Zelda: The Legend continues
by Link Kokiri
Summary: When I saw the unveiling of the next Gamecube Zelda game coming out this year, I got lots of ideas that I thought should be in the game. So I decided to put them into a story line that I thought would fit into the other games. This is the result.
1. Default Chapter

_**When I saw the unveiling of the next Gamecube Zelda game coming out this year, I got lots of ideas that I thought should be in the game. So I decided to put them into a story line that I thought would fit into the games. This story takes place nearly a year after Ocarina of Time, only Link didn't go back to being a kid, and instead went into the forest again. But now one knows what happened to Princess Zelda once Ganondorf was defeated.**_

Chapter 1- The dark revenge At the Water Temple... 

Inside the temple's mirage chamber, were the fight between Link and his dark half fought, a pair of Gerudos were standing by the withered tree in the middle of the room that was once again, in the state that it was before the battle ended. One of the two women had the usual physique of the tribe, her only unusual features was her long hair, and a tattoo on her arm in the shape of the Gerudo symbol, but blood red. This symbol was only burned onto the few lasting followers of the now fallen Ganondorf.

The second, however, was much older and had a shorter stature. She was also a witch, and held a small piece of ripped material, which was green but had specs of blood on it.

"I still don't understand why we're here. The great lord was struck down at his ruined castle, so why are not resurrecting him there instead of standing here looking at a tree!" barked the young woman. "We are wasting time! I hired you to bring back Ganondorf, so tell me why you have that blasted piece of tunic." She was clearly impatient.

"Because, Kiva, I cannot resurrect Ganon. He was not killed, he was imprisoned, and the only way that we can free him, is to break the bond that holds the gateway to his realm." The old hag replied calmly, staring blankly, as here eyes were vacant and mystified.

"Then break it already!" snapped the furious read head.

"The only way to break open the prison that holds Ganon, is to kill the one who slaved him... the hero of time."

"That's impossible! We don't even know were he is! And if he defeated our master, then what chance do we have!" The Gerudo was now in a state of shock.

"No, you are mistaken, as there is something that we can use to help us, something that is located here. Ganondorf cursed the Hero with another half when he was merely a child, one that contrasts his own personality. He has been confined to this room for years. All he needed to set himself free was the blood of his own, better half. When the chance came, he failed. But now I have a piece of the hero's tunic with his own blood upon it from his battle with Ganondorf. And I shall use it to release him on this land." The aged sorceress sneered, and placed the piece of bloody armor in the murky water.

The young follower said nothing as she stared, curious at the witch who chanted chilling words in an ancient Hylian tongue, whilst waving her arms over the gradually darkening water. The entire chamber turned into complete darkness, but a spiraling beam of water shot up from were the old tree stood. The witch's eyes burst into flames and she screamed unnaturally loud. Then the Gerudo gasped in bewilderment as a dark silhouette of Link emerged from the pillar of water and all chaos stopped as the darkness in the room was absorbed into the figure.

The witch rose up, as she was on her knees from the pain, and saw the dark incarnation of the Hero that had been released.

Dark Link took a few strides forward, stopped, took in his surroundings, and then glared menacingly at the two in front of him, knowing that his release was to do with them, and kept his eyes fixed upon them until they explained their actions.

"Ganon was defeated by your other half", the hag stated simply.

Dark Link showed no reaction to this news, but replied, "So? That's not my problem." Dark Link's voice was horse, as he certainly hadn't used it in a long time. Or maybe it was supposed to be, Kiva didn't know.

"Ah, but it is your concern..." Said the witch, "as you need to help us revive him, so that this land can once again, be brought under his dark might so that you can roam freely throughout it"

Dark Link spat on the ground, "I don't need that power hungry freak to take over the place!" the young Gerudo gave a disapproving glare towards him, she wasn't taking a liking towards this plan so far. "And besides..." Dark continued with a smirk, "all I care about, is to make my "other half's" life, a misery, before a painful death."

Hiding a grin, the witch gave a fake sigh of disappointment. "Well then, I suppose that we have no choice but to leave, if you are so unwilling to help. Enjoy your freedom."

Dark Link eyed them suspiciously for a moment, but then sprinted at a demonic speed through the exit, blasting the door off its hinges whilst sparing the pair's lives for freeing him. He was quickly out of sight and had clearly left the Temple in search for his, counter part.

_A few moments passed..._

"Well that was a waste of time!" Kiva shouted out loud, now sure that the demon had left.

"No, it went just as I expected, he shall now kill the Hero, and then release Ganondorf" reassured the old one.

"Ha! I bet he won't even find him!"

"He will. Their thoughts are shared between them, so Dark will know were to look."

Kiva then stared at the broken door, blasted at least 100 feet from the frame, as it began to dissolve from the dark matter that had touched it.

End Chapter

_A/N: I know that this was a very short chapter. And I can't really ask for any good comments at this point. But I'd really appreciate it if anyone would tell me if they think that this is a good concept._

_All (if any) comments will be replied in the next chapter. Thanks for reading._

_P.S. If people like this then I'll update quickly!_


	2. The hero's Quest

**_Zelda: The Legend Continues_**

_A/N: Thank you very much for the reviews. It is really great to know that there are people that like this story. I'm also surprised, I didn't expect to receive anymore than one or two for the first chapter, and like I said, I'll reply to all reviews that commented on the previous chapter;_

_To Night wolf, I assure you that I am as big as Link fans come, and I'm sure that nothing terribly bad will happen to him (but how will Ganondorf be released? eyes shift suspiciously_

_To Apakoha, uhh, what can I say but... AWSOME! -, is this fast enough an update? Also, I forgot to add in that Dark Link knows what Link is thinking, but Link doesn't know what Dark Link's thinking! Also, Dark Link is very powerful, quick and athletic, more so that usual fics. Cool huh? _

_Kuromomo Taro, I'm glad you like it! Hears more!_

_To Atchika, thanks I thought that it was a logical explanation. And yes, Dark Link is very pissed off! Also, I don't mind at all!... Uh, whats a C2 community? looks up what it means OH! GREAT! -_

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the Zelda franchise owned by Nintendo. All rights are reserved to the official Zelda license (how official did that sound!)

Chapter 2 – The Hero's Quest 

In the Lost Woods, near the Secret Meadow, a young warrior wearing a long hooded cloak was running through an opening in the dense forest, accompanied by a small flicker of light. He stopped for a while, trying to familiarize himself with his surroundings.

The spark whispered to him, "I knew you'd get lost!" It seemed to be a little out of breath, like it had been following the elf at a fast pace for quite a while.

"Hey, at least we lost them!" the cloaked figure gestured behind him, also panting a little, "besides, I haven't been through here without the aid of music for nearly 8 years!" a grin was evident under his hood.

"Very funny Link." sighed the fairy under its breath, "Try to remember that you were in a spiritual sleep for 7 years, making that statement wrong. To you, it hasn't even been a year since you last heard Saria's song guide you through here. Besides, I'm not sure if we did lose them, I've never saw Moblins so desperate to kill you before." The fairy glanced behind her as she said this.

"Well, if I had only gotten a better sword from that merchant, then I would've took them on!" He unsheathed a rather blunt blade on his back; it had a brown handle with a gray hilt and seemed to have been used a lot judging by the marks and dents forced upon it.

"Link, ten against one is hardly fair odds, we wouldn't have stood a chance." Reasoned the fairy, it's light grew a little, as if it was keeping it dim to not give the enemy their position.

"But look at it!" Link's voice rose, "this thing couldn't even cut through butter!"

At that moment, a roar cried out from behind them, it was quite nearby, and it was answered with several more that were surrounding the pair.

"Nice one Link." Said the fairy dully

"Damn!" He threw off his cloak, held his sword tighter and took out his shield with his right arm.

The sound of hooves were soon heard approaching from all sides, and about 11 Moblins appeared from the trees, all brandishing swords, staring him down. A few of them were wounded, and were especially enraged as soon as they spotted Link.

"So... got any ideas?" asked Link, glancing from side to side, not taking his eye off of the circle that swiftly formed around him.

"...Nope." Said Navi, knowing what her companion was going to do even if she did suggest a plan.

"Ya know..." said Link rising his voice and looking at whom he suspected was the leader of the group, "...these odds are a little unfair, maybe you should go call for some more goons to even them up a bit." He couldn't resist grinning at the Chief Moblin, who predictably roared out for the rest to attack.

They all rushed in and made a swipe at link as he flipped over the head of one of them, decapitating it's head whilst exiting the circle to get a better advantage. Some of the monsters hit one of their own, but so far only one was down and out, so Link prepared for another to charge at him.

He dodged to the side of an attack but had to quickly block another two blows with both his shield and sword, leaving him very open to any other attacks. Link yelped as one Moblin reached in a lucky jab from behind, but a serious wound on Link's back was prevented thanks to a mail that he was wearing under his tunic.

Link quickly made them back off with a spin attack, and heard one of them howl and drop to the ground behind him. Another one down.

Link back-flipped as three more charged him at the same time, one in front and one on each side. He landed next to the presumed dead corpse, picked up its smallish dagger and threw it in front of him, and stabbed the Moblin that was in front of him in the face. He then jumped forward and sliced the other two in front of him before they could get back up from their attack. One collapsed, dead, followed by the one with the dagger between the eyes, but the other stumbled over backwards on the brown earth, still yelling in pain.

Link continued fending and parrying off another four in front of him, but another two decided to fight from a distance, one taking out it's bow as the other handed over arrows which it lit.

Navi, seeing one of them take aim for Link's head, quickly shot from above, into the archer's face, doing enough to disturb it off target. She then flew inside the other Moblin's quiver and produced a small spell, lighting the arrows and got back out. The Moblin started up in flames, screamed and ran into the archer before it could shoot, setting both on fire.

Navi watched from a safe distance as the two ran in a blind panic (Moblins aren't the brightest of Farore's creatures, and therefore don't know to stop, drop and roll) and burned to the ground. She then turned to Link who was doing quite well. He'd already killed another, and had just cut off another's arm and stabbed it in the chest before booting it off his sword.

The last two in front of the confident fighter glanced at each other. One charged at Link, whilst the other made a break for it, limping as fast as it could. Link dodged the move by rolling around his adversary, getting up while spinning and backhanded the beast with his sword, making this one also a head shorter.

Link looked to the side, seeing the last one stumble over it's other fallen brethren. Not wanting another skirmish due to a messenger, he took out his bow and fired an arrow in the back of it's neck as it also dropped.

Now that there was no sign of danger, Link put away his bow and shield, but walked briskly over to the only Moblin still alive, writhing in pain on the ground, and shoved his sword through it's chest, putting it out of it's misery.

Navi scanned the area, found no more threat, Flew over to Link and sat on his shoulder.

"What would you do without me!" Stated the fairy, a little shook up from the ordeal. Link noticed the charred remains of the two Moblins who burned to the ground.

"Looks like they were unfortunate enough to suffer the wrath of Navi, the great fairy!" he wiped his sword of the green claret covering it on the ground and then sheathed it, laughing.

Navi sighed "You now, Link, you may have grown up, but you still act like a child" she nagged.

Link laughed again, but made a more serious face, "Thanks."

"That's better." Replied the fairy. Her light brightened a little more, "Hey, come on! Let's find Saria already, before another seven years pass!"

Link winced a little as he took a step, "Oww, I hope there's still fairies at this place!" he felt a little bit of blood running down his back.

"Come on you big baby!"

The pair left the mass of bloody dead creatures, as the Sun went down, and a werewolf howled in the distance, to continue their search for the meadow that lead to the Forest Temple.

At Kakoriko village 

It was now very dark, and the man who sat on the rooftop spun his head round a little as a swift movement, also on a nearby roof, caught his eye.

Seeing nothing, he continued watching the Moon, assuming it was nothing.

In the village's local bazaar... 

The big burly shopkeeper had his back to the door, cleaning a fine looking sword, when the noise of the entrance door opening sounded.

Still keeping his back to the dark figure, which took a few steps towards the counter, he greeted him. "Welcome to the Kakoriko Bazaar, feel free to have a look around." He said in a cheery voice, still polishing the weapon in his hands.

Dark Link glanced briefly around him, barely interested in the weapons, he only needed one thing; A weapon good enough for his expertise, and sharp enough to stand against Link's sword. He knew that it was all he needed, Link didn't have the Master sword, otherwise he would have had a dark version of it too. He also knew why the sword was in it's pedestal, so it was unlikely that Link would take it back again anytime soon.

Dark Link then noticed the sword in the Man's hand. It would do, it had a sharp gray blade in the same shape of the Master sword's and it had a jet black leather handle with a clawed black hilt.

"That's a fine sword" he remarked in a voice slightly clearer than before with a smirk.

The man finally turned around to face his customer, "Ah yes! It's made from the finest materi- oh Link!" His face brightened as he recognized his best customer but it quickly fell again. "Jeez, Link ya don't look so goo- ACK!" his sentence was cut off as Dark Link, aided by his supernatural powers, had jumped over the counter and grabbed the strong man with one hand and smacked him into the wall as fast as lightning.

The sword clattered onto the ground as the unconscious shopkeeper fell along with it. Dark Link picked up the sword and looked over it. It was heavy, but it made no difference to him. He picked up another few weapons such as bombs, a bow and a few arrows, and dashed through the exit.

Outside, the man on the roof was startled to see a dark figure burst out of the shop. Dark Link stopped and flipped backwards so high that he landed on top of the shop's roof. He was now beside the man who watched Dark Link sheath his sword, and put away his bow. The man nearly fell off the building when Dark Link turned sharply towards him, and he then recognized who he was. "L-Link?" questioned the man in disbelief. "B-But, how?"

Ignoring the person in front of him, Dark Link fled past and leaped all the way across the village onto the roof of the house opposite, and dashed in to the forest in search for someone...

End Chapter 

A/N: Once again, thank you for reviewing, it means a lot to me. And the speed of updates will stay high if more reviews keep coming!


	3. Trapped!

A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews, again, here are the replies:  
To Atchika, I hope that this is quality enough a chapter for you! And yes, since it's hard to tell between Dark Link and Link at night, he will have a little bit off framing to deal with. Also, in Ocarina of Time, I don't really like the look of Dark Link being totally black in appearance. Instead I prefer just black clothes but pale skin, with normal looking red eyes, not huge big red ones. 

To Youkai-joseph, I've gotta say that this is probably the best review I'll ever get, thanks! And you put me on your fav author list. I'm really quite flattered, Enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with the Zelda franchise owned by Nintendo. All rights are reserved to the official Zelda license (how official did that sound!)

Zelda: The Legend Continues 

Chapter 3 –

The night had gone on for a few hours but the young Hylian and his fairy companion still had not found the place that they were searching for. They had not encountered any more packs of Moblins so far, but the forest was becoming more and more threatening as the darkness grew. The Deku Babas and Scrubs that once inhabited the woods had become more vicious than Link had last visited, with the fierce foliage much more desperate to kill it's prey.

Link had noticed how all of the hostile creatures in Hyrule had grown in their anxiety to slice off a pointy ear for a souvenir. He wasn't sure, but he suspected that it had something to do with this quest that he had started straight after he defeated Ganon.

"Link, we've been searching for ages!" the guardian fairy whispered into his ear, she had been sitting in his now slightly messy cloak's hood. It used to be light brown, but now had green bloody stains all over it. One of the dead Moblins fell on top of it whilst he was fighting.

"I think we should leave, the forest gets really dangerous at this hour, its nearly midnight." She continued, "let's come back tomorrow."

"No, we continue searching" Link was determined to find Saria. He first went to the Kokiri to look for her, but the children said that she went to the Forest temple a week ago, and hadn't been seen since. Fearing the worst, the Hero of Time had immediately begun searching in the forest, but still hadn't found the entrance to the forest temple. Even if he wanted to leave, he doubt he could. He hadn't stumbled across the Kokiri village yet like when he would normally have gotten lost.

"I don't understand" Link whispered sharply, "Its like the entire forest has grown a hundred fold. We're not even going in circles" He wasn't kidding either. The woods looked completely new to him, and the pair hadn't come across any familiar landmarks. They were completely lost and taking way too much time.

Navi said nothing, but sat up straight in his hood, watching carefully for any signs of danger.

The forest was getting thicker and much harder to navigate. Link now had to cut away vines and branches in their way with his sword. He stopped and looked up. The full moon was just visible through the branches over head. His ears perked up.

Suddenly Link spun round in stance, poised. There was nothing there, not even the trail he thought that they'd leave behind, just thick vegetation blocking the way. He'd sworn he heard a sound behind them. Thinking that it was just a loose branch, Link eased his posture. He turned back around and came face-to-face with his own face, barely a centimeter away from him staring straight at him only with red eyes, pale skin and a look of a grinning mad man.

"ACK!" in a split second, Link had already fallen backwards with shock. He looked back at where he'd seen himself, but there was nothing there. Link was glancing in every direction possible, trying as hard as he could to spot someone, or at least something. Navi was very startled after Link fell over, but she didn't see what ever it was that made Link react like that since she was beginning to nod off from fatigue.

Link was still in the same spot for at least 5 minutes, sword poised and looking all around him. Navi didn't move from her spot because of the tension that had formed around them. Nothing, not even a sound stirred in the forest. The darkness was enveloping their surroundings more than Link thought possible, and he'd have stayed rooted to the spot all night if he didn't hear a shrilling scream off in the distance.

"Saria!" Link, forgetting the situation he was in, immediately dashed in the direction that the cry for help came from. Dense plants in his way no longer made an effect on the elf as he sprinted, unnecessarily slashing away whatever debris he was quick enough to react upon with his weapon.

The scream was heard again, now much closer. Link definitely recognized it as the young sage's, and found himself running even faster. Seeing light ahead, Link raised his sword in mid-run higher, which was difficult since obstacles were flying past at such a rapid pace.

Bursting into the opening in the forest at full speed, Link spotted a black hooded figure directly ahead of him. Before the man could even spin around to see his attacker, Link had already charged straight into him, whacking the figure in the head with the hilt of his sword. The one receiving the blow flew back, it was a Stafloes and was at least knocked out.

Taking in his surroundings quickly through squinted eyes, Link noticed that the area was clear of trees and brightly lit due to the campfire. There were another two enemies, one in a red hooded cloak and another Stafloes in black that stood beside a tied up green-hared child who seemed to be in a lot of pain.

Enraged beyond belief, Link shot into the one nearest Saria incase if he done any more harm to her. The black robed sadist didn't even have time to react as Link shoved his right arm forward, both punching the enemy in the face and smashing his forehead with the edge of Link's Hylian shield.

Navi only managed to get out of the hood of Link's cloak at this point and flew over to the sobbing infant to see if she was okay. Noticing this, Link turned his attention to the last threat and lunged for him. Or her for that matter, as her frame was much smaller than the other two. Falling on the ground, her hood fell off, showing Link that she was a Gerudo. He pinned her and brought his sword swiftly an inch from her neck.

"Give me one good reason why I should let you live!" snarled Link, anger over-bearing him.

The woman simply laughed in his face. Link soon noticed that a whole pack of Gerudo warriors slipped out of the shadows, wielding two scimitars each. All of them bore the tattooed symbol of the Gerudo in red. "Now you'll pay for what you did to our master." The pinned Gerudo spat at Link. He knocked her out with the butt of his sword more violently than necessary.

Link rose to his feet and jumped to the side before the first attacker could hit him. Landing between two of them, Link smacked one with his shield, but the other dodged the swipe from his sword by flipping graciously backwards as the blade swung just above her stomach. Link continued swinging his sword around to try and get some space, but one Gerudo jumped from a nearby tree branch from over head and kicked him in the jaw, sending Link to the ground. He rolled backwards as one Geroudo drove a sword into the ground where he landed. Seeing that she narrowly missed her target, the frustrated woman threw her second weapon at Link who just got up on his feet and barely managed to deflect it with his shield.

He hadn't taken down any attackers so far and there was still more flooding the area to join the fight. This was obviously a trap, and a well thought out one too. He wouldn't last much longer if he kept this mindless rage up; he needed a plan and quick. Another assassin lunged for him, about to swing for his neck, Link didn't notice this but another kicked him in the back of the knee in order to put Link off guard. The distraction saved Link's life as he fell to his knees whilst the scimitar swiped above his head.

Link leaped up while spinning around with his sword like a helicopter blade, making him rise right over the mass' heads and the distance was further in his jump. Now landing in a slightly less crowded position, Link jabbed at a couple of the Gerudo, but the two in front of him simply parried his attacks, waiting for someone else to strike Link from behind.

Sensing this, Link quickly spun around with his sword again. As he expected, one thief was about to deliver a fatal blow from behind. He only managed to graze her arm since she was so quick to react. He continued swinging his sword as the other two tried to attack while they assumed he was off guard, but again his attempts to inflict damage were not very successful as one dodged out of the way and the other blocked his sword, making him stop spinning.

Another jumped from the left, with both weapons horizontal at Link. He blocked both of the scimitars with his sword vertical, and deflected an attack from the one in front with his shield. The woman with still both of her scimitars blocked by Link grinned wickedly, as she lowered her head to allow another Gerudo to jump over her and kick Link again in the face, hard. Link was sent flying right in front of the fire in the middle but because of his momentum he continued rolling towards it. He was just able to shove his hand to the ground, sending him high enough to arch himself over it.

It was lucky that his clothing didn't catch fire, since he still had his cloak on as there hadn't yet been time to take it off. _Wait a sec_, Link thought as this came to mind. _That's it! Fire! _Link got back on his feet, and hoping that there was no one close enough to attack him for the moment, he closed his eyes, and gave a split second of in tense concentrating.

A sparkling sapphire barrier surrounded Link in the blink of an eye as he cast the spell dawned upon him by Nayru. A huge amount of clanging of weapons was heard as the band of thieves desperately tried to penetrate the field protecting the Hylian.

Now knowing that he was temporarily safe, Link heightened his concentration. He never tried casting more than one spell before, and he didn't doubt that it would likely consume all of the magic that he obtained. While still trying to hold the barrier, Link summoned a small spark of flame in both of his hands. The blue light flickered slightly as he done this, causing the Gerudo to attack even harder, if Link failed to pull this off, he'd definitely be turned to mince-meat.

The flame grew at a slow steady pace, brightening as it did, turning into a confined raging fire with the first spell weakening all the time, becoming dimmer and dimmer. Links eyebrow twitched from his intensifying thoughts. He prayed to the Goddesses that Navi had took Saria to a safe place as the barrier broke the instance Link threw the fire to the ground, which encircled him from the flurry of blades that surrounded him. The entire band of assassins startled backwards, yelping as the fire burned their hands or anything else that went near Link.

Link, who was starting to look very tired from the strain, commanded the flaming circle with the flick of both wrists, for it to grow larger in diameter. This began to drive away the mass of enemies as they threw Deku nuts and cast spells to make themselves vanish and retreat to their home ground. Since Link was covering one half of the opening in the forest, he was cornering the only few left and they were in front of him.

Seeing his chance to finish this and get some answers, he threw his arms forward, which broke the flaming circle around him and made it snatch around the Gerudo that were left. Link managed a weak grin as he began to bring his hands closer together, making the flames draw nearer to the panic-stricken women. Their will to fight was completely shattered as they thew Deku nuts to the ground and vanished. But before the last one could disappear, Link broke the spell by lowering his arms, and using his last ounce of strength, he charged into the last Gerudo and flung her into a tree.

The young woman was completely terror-stricken as Link, with difficulty (although he didn't show it) grabbed her by the shoulders and pinned her against the rough bark.

"Tell me!" Link growled menacingly, "Tell me why you done this! Or I'll be sure to make that your last fight!" Link could tell that she was trembling with fear.

"O-one of our spies found out that you were coming to the f-forest from Termina..." Link glared at her to continue, "S-so we found that girl near the temple and though of using her as bait to ambush you."

"What did you do to her! Why did she scream?!" The Gerudo's eyes widened in horror as Link yelled this at her. "I-I did nothing to her! Gera probably got tired of waiting for you! S-so she made the girl scream out for you!" The words came out in a panic as the tanned woman squirmed to free herself.

Disgusted at the bandit, Link threw her to the side and stared at her as she fumbled in her pocket to find a Deku nut as quickly as possible and threw it at the ground, and was gone.

Link stood there for a second and dropped to the ground in exhaustion. Resting for a few seconds, he reached into a shirt pocket with a trembling hand and took out a bottle of unfinished milk. He gulped the last of it down to gain enough strength to get back up again.

Navi had flown out of the shadows and into the dying light of the campfire, concerned if Link was okay.

"Where's Saria?" asked Link, not trying to speak very loud.

"She's back here." Link followed the fairy through a few trees that hid Saria from any more Gerudos. She was no longer crying, but her face was still tear streaked and hands and legs were still tied together. There were rips on the sleeves of her top were she must have been cut with a dagger, but it seemed that Navi healed her wounds during the battle. Link walked over and cut the rope binding her wrists and ankles with his sword, and then she crumbled into his arms, sobbing harder than before. Link was never so sorrowful in his life, no child should have to go through an ordeal like that.

He had so many questions that he needed to ask her but he didn't dare for she was in such a state. From the look of it, she seemed to not have slept in days.

Link noticed that she was freezing cold, so he took off his cloak and wrapped it around her, picked her up and set back for the Kokiri village.

End chapter 

A/N: I hope that you enjoyed this chapter, it took quite a while to write. Expect to find out what's really going on in the next chapter.

P.S.: I'd really like to know what you think of the fighting scenes in this so far. This is honestly my first fic so it would be helpful. Should I lay off the action a bit? Do you think the fights are complicated? Please leave a review, and thanks again!


	4. The Truth

A/N: Wow, so far I've been described as amazing! Stupendous! The best, best, best, BEST! _And_ I rock! AND IT"S ONLY AFTER THE THIRD CHAPTER! (yes Mr. Joseph, I AM referring to you!) As for the review replies... 

To Youkai-joseph: No need to be mad, as I'm still alive and kickin' (and writing) And I'm glad you like the action scenes. But I'm afraid that there needs to be some plot to be given out for this chapter, so no action cries. As for a small battle between the Links, I think your gonna like the next chapter cause you obviously know how I write out fights. It's gonna show one of my favorite ideas that I think should be put in the next game, so I hope that you'll like it. Nice review by the way, very nice!

To Atchika: Glad you like the fighting too! And I suppose you're right, this IS the Action/Adventure Category. - And I hope this chapter doesn't dissappoient you... oh no! I TYPED A SPELLING MISTAKE! THAT'S SOMETHING THAT MIGHT DISSAPPOIENT YOU! OH NO! I DID IT AGAIN! NOOOOOOOOO!!! Link Kokiri jumps out the window and falls 100 stories high and hits the ground, but does not die DAMN! WHY WAS I MADE IMMORTAL TO CONTINUE THIS STORY! Anyway enjoy this chapter! :D

Disclaimer: If I owned the Legend of Zelda series, I wouldn't have made Impa's umm, assets so "pointy" and I would have called it "The Legend of the guy who you play as has a name, and it is Link, not Zelda." Play the game and see if these changes to it have been made. If they have, then my first step for total world domination is complete! Muahahahaha!... Oo! Uh oh! That didn't come out so well.

_**Zelda: The Legend Continues**_

Chapter 4 - the Truth

The journey back out of the lost woods was much easier than Link thought. There were no more tribes of monsters or hot women that got in their way, which was definitely good since Saria had fallen asleep. Navi kept an eye out though, because she was keen not to let Link be surprised again.

Before she fell asleep, Saria had told Link the direction in which the village was. Link had kept to this direction, and the vegetation was beginning to thin out.

Link seemed to be deep in thought, staring blankly in front of himself while carrying Saria in his arms. He didn't know that there were Gerudos that still followed Ganondorf. He thought that they were all afraid of him and only obeyed his will because of the inevitable death sentence that would follow if they didn't. Link decided to leave a mental note to check up on that with Nabooru, the queen of the Gerudo tribe.

And then there was that reflection he saw of himself. That was certainly what was bothering Link the most right now. What if it showed up again? Was it even real? Or was his mind playing tricks on him, Link was not sure, but he did know that he wouldn't feel comfortable until he got out of this forest.

It was still very dark so it was a big relief when Navi caught the sight of faint light in the distance.

"Hey, look!" cried out Navi.

Startled slightly by Navi's sudden burst of noise, Link looked in the same direction of the excited fairy and also found the tell-take glow of lights from the Kokiri village.

Link quickened his pace towards the miniature settlement and glanced down to see if the forest Sage was still asleep.

They soon reached the exit of the woods that seemed to have had a lot of moss and plants that were growing further and larger than normal.

Ignoring this, Link carefully climbed down the vine ledge with one hand and headed straight towards Saria's house. Link noticed that there was no one out at this time of the night as he stepped over the stones in the pond and crouched under the small door.

Link laid down Saria on her bed, put a blanket on top of her and gave her one last check over that she was okay before he left again.

Link then went towards his own house, hoping that there was no one who had took it as their own while he was away for the past year. It only took him a few steps to scale his ladder and find out with a smile that it hadn't been touched since he was last there.

His bed was far too small for him to sleep in it, so he took out a rag that he'd been using a lot during his recent travels and placed it on the wooden floor.

Damn did his jaw hurt! He had no idea a woman could kick that hard! And he got two in the face!

He'd barely had enough time to take off his hat and kick off his boots before collapsed on the poor excuse for a resting place.

"Night Navi." He mumbled and then fell asleep instantly.

"Good night Link" Navi flew into his green hat to sleep for the night.

Not far away... 

Dark Link was crouched down on a high tree branch near the window in Link's tree house, grinning.

_I could take him out now! _He thought._ I could've killed him before in the woods, or anytime I wanted! But not yet. _He decided. _Not before I make him suffer. Suffer miserably for what he done to me. Yes. Soon, all those years of imprisonment will be paid back with your own blood Mr. "Hero!"_

And with that, the demonic figure leapt up into the air and disappeared into the night sky.

(Next day)

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!" A rooster crowed in the distance as Link got up with a yawn, not feeling very refreshed due to the lack of sleep from last night. He was used to it though; there few times that he got a full night's sleep.

Remembering that he had a friend to check on, Link put on his boots, picked up his hat and fitted it on too.

"AAAGHH!" the high-pitched shriek came from inside his hat.

Link, didn't seem to react to this and still had a dull look on his face, but he eventually took his hat off lazily and put it back on after the enraged fairy shot out of it, jolting violently up and down around his head burning a bright red, shouting at him.

"LINK! DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN! DO YOU HEAR ME!!! THAT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME YOU DONE THAT EITHER! YOU SHOULD WAKE ME UP FIRST! IF YOU DARE PULL OFF ANOTHER STUPID TRICK LIKE THAT AGAIN, I'LL --- **ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING!!!**"

Link, ignoring the fairy, trudged out of his house sleepily and climbed down the ladder. He didn't even notice the quite large crowd of Kokiri that had gathered at the foot of the ladder.

The large cheer that they emitted, however, did catch his attention, and he nearly fell on top of one of the kids as he almost lost his balance on the small ladder frame. Once he stepped on the ground he turned around with a blank look on his face, not quite sure why all of them were surrounding him.

"HURRAY FOR LINK!" they all cheered again. "YOU BROUGHT BACK SARIA!" Link was sweat-dropping, "Uh, no problem." He muttered, then suddenly realized, "Wait a sec, you know who I am?"

"Sure we do!" Stated one of the boys, "Saria told us this morning!"

"I still can't believe you're not a Kokiri, Link" said one of the girls, giggling.

"Uh, so where is Saria?" Link asked.

"Normally, she'd be in the lost woods." Called out the blond hared girl, "but because it's too dangerous in there, she's in her house, she also wants too see you!" the group of Kokiri started to disperse and continue with their childish, daily routines.

As Link started to Saria's house, he was held back with a light tug on his tunic. He turned around to see Mido.

"Uh, Link?" he questioned.

"Yeah, what is it Mido".

"Umm, I'd just like to say I'm sorry for picking on you when you were a kid. I didn't know you were such a cool guy, thanks for saving Saria. She didn't tell anyone what happened last night, but I could tell that you stopped something pretty bad from happening to her."

Links stomach lurched as Mido said this. He was wrong, as Link hadn't prevented Saria from a great deal of pain.

"Err, sure." Link replied, unsure.

Mido's face brightened a little as he ran away to play with the others and left Link to go into Saria's house. He first looked around him to se if Navi was still around, but she seemed to have flown off in a huff, or maybe went to visit some other fairy relative.

As he went to step inside the house, Link banged his head off of the door frame, forgetting to crouch under it.

"...oww." said Link, not even making a painful expression, he must have been more tired than he thought.

Saria was heard laughing inside the dwelling. "Very funny." Link remarked, putting a hand to the swelling bruise on his forehead. "I'm glad that you're in high spirits." The chairs were too small, so he sat on the table, hoping that she wouldn't mind.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded from the bed she was sitting on

"Saria, I'd like to ask why you went into the forest." A look of concern was on his Link's face. "Surly you would have known that the place was growing at a dangerous rate."

Saria shook her head. "No, Link. I know that you went through a lot of trouble to rescue me, but I would be grateful if you would tell me were you have been. I haven't seen you since you defeated Ganon. I thought something had gone wrong when we sealed up the dimension." A tear streamed down her face. "I thought that you were trapped in there, along with Ganon, and Princess Zelda!" She looked up at her best friend. "Please Link, I need to know."

Link looked a little unsure, but seeing Saria's pleading face, he gave in, looking down at the ground.

"Well, let's say that things didn't go quite so well as we had planned." Saria gave an encouraging look for him to continue. "You probably don't know this, but I finished my quest to defeat Ganondorf twice. The first time, he was banished into the other realm successfully. But when I gave the Ocarina of Time to Zelda, she played a song, which sent me back in time, about a week before it all started. But before I was even reunited with Navi, I went and got the Kokiri sword, a Kokiri shield and because of my newly-found hunger for adventure, I found Epona and set off in search for a new land."

Link looked up at Saria to see if she was still listening. Since she seemed to be transfixed with his story so far, he continued.

"I came across Termina, a place that was in great danger due to a huge moon that was on a crash collision course straight into the land. After three days, I destroyed the evil that was causing it, and set off back for home. I thought that I had no more troubles, and I was eager to ask the Great Deku Tree for more information about my parents. But when I came back, I found out that Ganondorf hadn't disappeared at all. And so, the Deku Tree was cursed again, and I repeated the entire quest again."

Link looked up again, and Saria noticed that there was a dark look in his eye.

"No one seemed to notice that time was repeating itself. No one but Ganondorf, because when you used your power to banish the monster from this world, he knew what was going on. He realized that I had beaten him twice, and for a final attempt of revenge, he made a dive for me, how he done this whilst Zelda's spell was upon him, I'll probably never know. But instead of grabbing me, I barely dodged out of the way, and he grabbed Zelda, who was right behind me, completely defenseless."

Link closed his eyes to try and prevent the tears from flowing out.

"They were both banished into the other realm. And still to this day I curse myself for letting it happen. Not wanting to bare the shame that would burden me here, I left Hyrule like a coward. And I traveled far, further than before, in search of an answer or clue that would help me free Princess Zelda from her prison that I helped send her to. I found word of a sword that was rumored to have immense power, power enough to open the void that trapped the Princess. On my way, many tried to stop me, it was at this point that it seemed that every monster, or corrupted person in the country was after me. It soon became apparent to me why thought. As I found out that the sword was an abomination of pure evil, and that it would only release Gannondorf, and then try to use me as a slave to bring out its cruel intentions on the world. I destroyed the sword, barely, as it fought back very desperately, and because it seemed to already try to possess me, promising me that it would release Zelda for me if I simply grabbed it's hilt."

Link swallowed with difficulty, remembering how convincing the blade known as "Soul Edge" was.

"When I destroyed it, I realized why so many had tried to stop, me. They knew that it was the only way to bring back Ganondorf, and they knew that I was going to destroy it because of that. I turned back home again. Hope within myself that another chance might turn up. And again, Ganon's minions are after me, stronger than before, but again, I'm not sure why."

Link wiped the few tears that had escaped from his eyes and looked back up at Saria.

"And that's what has been happening for the past year or less." He concluded, "I'll never forget that look of despair in Zelda's eyes as she faded away from this world." He threw his head in his hands, distraught.

Saria slid off the bed, walked over to Link and hugged him tight.

"It wasn't your fault" she tried to comfort him.

"Wasn't it? I should have protected her!" Link cried out, "When the Triforce chose me, they chose wrong! I'm nothing but a failure!"

"No Link, you not a failure!" Saria told him sternly, "Just think of all the people you've helped! You're a real Hero! Don't worry about Zelda, I'm sure you'll find a way to get her out."

Link calmed down a bit and returned the hug with a smile. "Sure."

A moment passed...

"And Link?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"I only wished I got there sooner."

"Oh get away with you!" Saria said with a smile. "Go on, I'm sure your other friends are missing you."

Link got up and walked towards the door as Saria heard another loud thud.

"...oww."

End chapter 

A/N: Since there was no action this time round, I tried to put in a little humor instead. Also, I hope I put a little more meaning into Soul Calibur 2's story for you readers. Oh, and while I'm on the topic of reading... READ AND REVIEW! Thank you!


	5. A Hero's Rest

A/N: Sorry about the delay! The next chapter is soon but this one is extra long so please forgive me and keep reviewing!

To Atchika: I don't think Zelda is weak at all! Believe me! She's my second strongest character in Super Smash Bros.! It's just that she seemed very preoccupied with the sealing spell at the time so I thought it was appropriate!

To Youkai: Sorry, no serious action yet! But there'll be more next chap, promise!

To T-bone: Glad you like it, plus, I suppose it is a bit original. Next chapther will be MUCH sooner!

Thanks for the reviews… DON"T STOP!!!

**Zelda: the Legend continues**

Chapter 5: something…

At Hyrule field…

It was early in the afternoon; the Sun's position in the sky told Link that he'd definitely overslept. It didn't matter though, because he'd have ended up arriving at his next destination too early anyway.

He was thinking about what Saria had mentioned about the forest earlier. She said that the problem of the Lost Woods going into rapid over-growth was her reason for venturing in search for Forest Temple in the first place, but when the Sage entered, her ability to navigate the woods was proven useless as it's size had grown much larger.

Link wondered what the cause for this phenomenon was. It was recent, so could it have been something to do with his return to Hyrule. He didn't let it bother him though, as he started off for Lon Lon ranch, hoping that it would be the last journey that he would have to make on foot for at least a while.

And so, the Hero of Time headed towards a ranch, only just visible on the horizon in front of him. "This is gonna take a while." he said to himself.

Somewhere deep within the Temple of Spirit…

Kiva the Gerudo was walking briskly along the narrow stone bridge that arched over a chasm. She dared not look down, she done that the first time she crossed it and felt dizzy, and since the crumbling excuse of a pathway was only a few feet wide she decided it possibly fatal to do such a thing again.

Reaching the other side of the large room, she gave a small sigh of relief.

"Why does that stupid hag have to be so far down in this bloody-forsaken place!" she hissed under her breath, glancing from side to side thanks to the creepy atmosphere the dungeons emitted. Small movements in the deep darkness and chilling drafts unsettled the red head.

Soon, Kiva reached a large black door engraved with a serpent and scorpion in red, hardly visible in the dim light that nearby torches provided. The double doors slowly and noisily opened themselves, allowing Kiva into the witch's room.

Its walls also, were made of stone, and the temperature dropped significantly as Kiva gave a shudder. Regaining her composer, she saw the witch in the center of the room with her back to Kiva, deep in meditation, standing over a large Triforce symbol painted on the cold, hard ground in what seemed like blood. The aged woman turned around without moving a muscle. It was hard to tell thanks to the long red robe being worn, but Kiva thought that the sorceress was levitating just above the ground.

The young Gerudo cleared her throat, "Queen Naburoo and her guards are still searching in the upper levels of the Temple for us, but are no where near our bandit hide out."

The witch opened her eyes, "That's good… However, I know that you wouldn't travel all the way down here just to give me a patrol status report…"

Kiva shifted uneasily, "Well yes, I suppose not. But the search party that I sent out to look for the Forest Temple a week ago returned not an hour ago. They said that they found the Hero of Time nearing the forest and took a hostage there, and when a few of the search party members confronted him, he defeated them…"

"I already assumed that you would tell me this information." Replied the witch

"Wha…?" Kiva was not used to being interrupted. Taking the statement in, she soon realized something "Then why didn't you say that before! It would have saved me a whole trip down to this stinking rat hole!"

"Because I have also gained some information that disappoints me…" the witch was staring directly at the woman, "apparently, it seems that you, my dear, are lying. There was more than 'a few' that attacked the Hero, in fact, due to my unique talents, I saw that there was a total of 18 of what you call your 'finest warriors'. And 2 Staflos, which didn't last 5 seconds, might I add, that didn't confront him, but AMBUSHED HIM! It is also apparent that he didn't even posses the Master Sword at the time!"

As she rose up in the air the witch's eyes burst into red flames and Kiva was forcefully dragged up into the air as well by an invisible force that the witch conjured up. Terrified, the woman struggled to free herself but to no avail.

"And yet" the powerful being continued through baring teeth, "the blasted Hylian knocked down all of these odds, WITHOUT THE POWER THAT MADE HIM A THREAT TO US IN THE FIRST PLACE! THE TRIFORCE OF COURAGE!" suddenly, she shot lightning out of her bony fingertips, which enveloped Kiva in a painful, constant surge. Her shrieks echoed loudly throughout the numerous stone corridors of the dank catacombs, yet they were heard by none, other than the foul-infested monsters that roamed the area.

At least a minute passed by as Kiva hung in the air being tortured. It felt like hours to her, but finally, the surge stopped as the Gerudo was flung back onto the ground, but the immense pain still lingered.

"And that, is why I have let you travel down here to pathetically give me false witness to this current event. I hope you have learned your lesson, as you shall now carry out this order. Kill that damn elf! I don't care whether that excuse of a shadow of his is doing the same, Link has been underestimated and it shall not happen again. He no longer possesses any mythical weapons or power so failure will result in a much worse treatment than tonight's. Now go!" And with that, the same magic threw Kiva out of the room and again left sprawled on the cold floor as the huge doors shut behind her.

After a few moments she dragged her badly burnt body off of the ground and began to limp back to the Bandit hideout...

Back to that blasted Hylian!

Link approached the closed gates of the Ranch with concern; it was during the mid-afternoon, yet the strong steel gate were bound shut with a heavy lock.

Fortunately, Link heard footsteps as there was someone walking by…

"Uh, hello? Is anyone there?" Link tilted his head to try and see around the twisty path into the farm.

The footsteps stopped to an abrupt halt, but the person decided to step around to the gate to greet Link. As the figure came into view, Link's hopes dropped significantly as he recognized the man instantly.

It was Ingo, and he hadn't seemed to have changed much, considering the fact that Link saw the man as a grumpy sleaze-ball even from the last time he met him. Trying his luck anyway, Link decided to ask before Ingo could start his expected rant of disapproval.

"Um, hi there! You might not remember me but I'm a friend of Malon, is she here?" Link thought that this would be a funny sight. A farm ranch has been practically isolated for the most of a year. And all of a sudden, a kid shows up dressed in green rags that are stained with blood, is armed to the teeth with weaponry and he wants to see a farm girl that hasn't been as far from home as Kakoriko village!

The crooked man's face turned into a scorn. "You're right, I have no idea who you are, but there's no 'Malon' here, so get lost!" Ingo pressed this message further by jabbing a pointing gesture away from the farm.

Although Link was planning on staying calm with this guy, it didn't stop him from looking surprised. Already, his anger was building up as he saw Ingo turn around and begin to leave him.

"Wait! You don't understand! I need to ask Malon a favor, I'd be really grateful if you'd just let me talk to her… or even Talon!"

He must have hit a nerve as Ingo hunched up in fury and quickly spun round again, "I've already told ya! There's no Talon or Malon here so you'd better beat it before I set the hounds on ya!"

Link was finding it hard to control his rage "You've never kept any dogs here cause they'd just attack the cuckoos!" But with that Link quickly stopped, cause he knew that cuckoos were much more dangerous than any mere dog. Thankfully, Ingo didn't seem to notice this slight trauma that Link experienced in some of his previous visits.

"Listen, it doesn't matter!" Link put his hand to his forehead and suppressed the urge to smash the gate open with any means necessary to do so. Then he decided to ask Ingo himself for what he was looking for. He knew that thanks to his recent travels, he had gained enough money for any stupidly unfair price that the greedy jerk might demand. "You rent out horses don't you? Well I'll pay for one, any horse, but I'd prefer Epona if you wouldn't mind cause I've already tamed her…"

At this point it seemed that Ingo was at boiling point, "YOU LISTEN HERE, YA WRETCHED TWIT! THE ONLY REASON YOU WON THAT HORSE WAS 'CAUSE I WAS PISSED AT THE TIME!!!" His face looked as though the man had lost all sanity. Ingo was already back at the gate, screaming and yelling while he grabbed the bars and moved about furiously. "AND BELIEVE ME! GANON HIMSELF IS GONNA BE LET IN HERE BEFORE YOU ARE! SO SCRAM!"

Link was now sure that his politeness was completely futile at this point, if he was going to check on one of his friends, that he was now seriously concerned about at this stage, he knew a different approach was going to be needed. "I've gotten through a closed gate here before, and if I have to, I'll do it again…"

"As if you'd have the balls, forest shrimp!"

Link unsheathed his sword threateningly, "try me."

Just at that point, a worried looking red-head girl stepped around the path. "Ingo, what's going on over there? Who's at the gate?"

Ingo spun round hastily, looking as though he had been caught out red-handed, "Oh, uh… No one ma'm! Jus some trouble maker lookin' ta sneak into the ranch!"

Link quickly sheathed his sword once he noticed Malon's voice, whom, sensing no sign of threat, stepped further around the corner to get a glimpse of the assumed 'stranger' outside of the gate. Quickly noticing who link was with a gasp, she swiftly stepped in front of the dastardly-mustached man, who was in silent, yet infinite frustration.

"Why, he's not a bandit, Mr. Ingo!" Malon laughed, "That's Fairy Boy!" She already began to unlock the gate that just moments ago, stopped Link from doing something that he'd probably regret. He didn't care anymore that Ingo was being so difficult, so long as he knew that Malon was okay. This didn't, however, stop Link from giving him a triumphant grin as Malon bent down to release the shaft that was holding the gate closed. That was returned with a glare that would scare half of an army of Moblins.

Link followed Malon around to the ranch's house. Just as they approached the door, it was opened by Talon who was carrying a bucket full of meal. He quickly recognized Link and shook his hand.

"Welcome back 'Mr. Hero of Time'!" he bellowed out with a hearty voice. He then gave Link a look over. "Seems you've been busy lately! But I bet those monsters got what was coming to them!" he let out a chuckle. "You've helped us out a lot, thanks ta getten' rid of that damn mad man!"

Link smiled, realizing that a lot must have spread while he was gone, though it was a nice feeling to be praised for what he'd done for Hyrule.

"You mean Ganondorf?" Link asked.

"Of course I do! What else would I be talking about! Mind you, I wouldn't be surprised if you've saved the world three more times since you've been on yer travels!" Talon said in a proud manner. Link was about to answer, but Malon whispered a small comment to Talon.

"Dad! The cuckoos!"

Talon snapped back to reality and apologized to Link. "Sorry kid, I'd love ta chat but it's time for these critters ta get fed. They get a little cranky if they get it late. But don't mind me! Go on in!"

Link made no attempt to slow down Talon from feeding the cuckoos, in order to prevent any difficult situations, but instead followed Malon on in to the small house.

Once Malon had let Link into the house, he felt much more secure. The inside of the building had changed, instead of hay, chickens and farm tools, there were chairs, a table and a fire place, generally meaning that the place was converted into something between a dining and a living room.

Malon just stood in front of him waiting expectantly. Link was slightly confused. "What? Is there something on my face?"

"Aside from the bruises and green blood, no." Malon folded her arms.

"Then why are you staring at me?" Link asked.

"I'm waiting for you to ask for what you're looking for, isn't that what most customers do?" said Malon.

Link raised his eyebrows, "What makes you think that I'm not here to simply say hello?"

Malon gave out a laugh, "Oh, come off it Link! I doubt that after a whole year away from your home doing Goddesses knows what, then arriving here all of a sudden, dressed in bloody rags, that you would 'simply' like to say hello."

Link took a downward glance at the condition of his clothes. She was right; he was in a real mess, with scorch marks, rips and monster remains on his tunic. His leather weapon belt that held most of his inventory was barely hanging on his shoulder due to a narrow dodge from a blade. Plus his face had a few small bruises and cuts that weren't bleeding but still noticeable. Add to this a large amount of splattered mud from falling onto the ground several times in the forest, and you end up with a rather unpleasant way to look when your visiting a friend.

"Um, something came up along the way." Link tried to explain.

"I'm sure something did!" Malon let out another giggle.

Link sighed, "Well I suppose you're right anyway, seeing that I was going to ask you if I could borrow Epona for a while."

"I knew it! You're so predictable!" Malon smiled in victory.

"Well?" Link was waiting for an answer.

"Of course! But only if you're gonna stay for the night. It's obvious that you need cleaned up and rested."

Link took a step back, "What? But I've got some important things to take care of! I can't stay here that long!"

Malon folded her arms again, "Tough! I don't care if you've got errands! But if you leave, then you don't get Epona and you'll just end up getting hurt without rest and food."

Link was about to argue but just then his stomach growled, loudly. Link tried not to look embarrassed, but he then noticed how tired he was when he found himself starting to have trouble standing up so long. He suppressed a yawn…

"Okay!" He gave in with a sigh. "But first thing in the morning, I'm outta here!"

Malon cheered up a little more, "good! There's a spare bedroom next door. You can use that. Dinner will be ready in half an hour so I suggest that you get yourself cleaned up before then" And with that, she left the room.

Navi flew out of his hat. She was waiting for them to be alone to discuss something.

"Well, it's great that everyone's okay here!"

Link put set down his items on the floor, now feeling much lighter. "Yeah, you're right."

Then the small fairy turned slightly red. "But I don't know what that creep's problem was! He was acting just like he did when Ganon was running the place. Why was he being so mean."

Link took a big stretch while yawning. "I dunno, maybe he was just being careful with who to trust. After all, I'm sure that there would be a lot of thieves about lately, that'd explain the big gate at the entrance."

The fairy continued to persuade the tired elf. "But he didn't need to be so rude about it, after all, he could've just…"

"Navi, drop it." Link cut her off with a weary voice. "I don't care anymore. Besides, I need to get changed soon before Malon finishes cooking."

Just then, the entrance door opened. Navi managed to hide before Talon walked in with an empty bucket and a few scratches on his arms.

"Damn little gits!" He turned around to Link. "Ya know, if I didn't need those bugger's eggs, then I'd shove my boot inta every one of 'em!" then he remembered Link's current state. "Oh yeah! If ya need to take a wash, you can use the well around the back."

"Thanks." Link headed outside.

A few minutes later…

Link felt much better, he had gotten washed and changed into his Zora tunic since his green one seemed beyond washable at the moment. He was very tired at this point though, so he decided to go back in before he accidentally fell asleep.

On his way back into the house though, Mr. Ingo stepped around a corner with an icy glare and stopped him.

"Listen here brat! You're lucky you've gotten in here! But believe me, if you make one false move…" he pointed up a finger in front of Link's face, "… then I'll have your hide!"

Link was only subconscious; looking at Mr. Ingo with his eyelids half closed. He'd received hundreds of threats before, and this one wasn't anything special compared to those form demonic warriors. But then he faintly heard Malon shouting from inside. "Dinner's ready!"

Link didn't really bother to answer Ingo and instead he started lumbering on towards the wafting smell from the house, "…don't care… need food… go now…"

And with that, he left Ingo before he could stop him and left him extremely aggravated. He stomped of towards one of the barns, refusing to join the others with their meal.

End chapter.

Sorry to everyone that bothers to read this. I've been really late this time (two months late actually!). But I've got reasons! School was really taking over my life lately so I done this over the Christmas holidays. Please review and Happy New Year!

P.S. The next chapter will be up much quicker and have action. Promise!


	6. Early Wake Up Call

A/N: straight to the reviews…

To Youkai: sorry about the extreme lateness of last chapter. I only hope that this one came soon enough for you. A bit more action this time tough, but I think you might be a little frustrated by the end of it.

To jade: Wow! You like my fic Too? AND you've reviewed every chapter? COOL! That makes up… (counts fingers) 5! Woohoo! Hope you enjoy this chapter too!

To T-bone: Yeah I know. Don't worry about review length, (sniff) I-I'll deal with it (starts to cry with neglection) hope your feeling better by now!

If I've forgotten someone, then it's cause I'm in real need of sleep at the moment. Sorry.

Chapter 6: Early Wake Up Call

At Lon Lon ranch…

Malon and Talon watched slightly wide-eyed as entire bowls of steaming vegetables and potatoes were consumed at a rapid pace by their visitor. In mere seconds the Hero of Time had already finished his serving and downed a bottle of milk before either of the other two bothered to pick up their fork. Navi could only hang her head in shame from the fireplace where she was keeping warm. Her color had turned a dark purple.

Link had only realized why they were staring at him once he'd finished. So he tried to shift to a more polite stance while trying his best to suppress a belch, unsuccessfully. A bit embarrassed with himself, he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, but it was really good…"

Malon couldn't stop herself from giggling whilst Talon burst out into laughter. "HAHAHAHAHAAA! Something tells me ye were a bit' hungry there!"

"I think he still is!" Malon had her head shaking in her hands

Link thought that it would be rude to answer that. Thankfully, Talon answered it for him. "I'm sure he is! Go an' get'em another bowl of spuds!" Malon had already gone into the kitchen.

Navi exploded, "Link! Just where, pray tell, did your manners go! That is, if you ever had any in the first place!" finding that the fairy was being pretty much ignored, she gave up and simply floated up stairs and through the keyhole of Link's room.

Link was never so grateful for food in his life. In fact, it felt as though he hadn't ever had a proper meal since he could remember anyway.

He didn't know that his stomach was capable of eating so much either. Usually, he'd stop from time to time at a remote tavern and buy the cheapest produce on offer since he seldom had money to spare. He was able to get it from defeating enemies who carried rupees, gold or any other currency used in the area, but mainly used it up on weapons and health potions.

Link just realized that he ate another full bowl before Malon sat back down.

Outside, in a nearby barn…

The laughter coming from the house annoyed Ingo to no end as he violently jabbed at hay with his pitchfork near the horses that whinnied in anxiety. "AHH, SHUD UP!!" He yelled at them, while throwing the tool into the, now pierced, floorboards.

Standing behind Ingo at the entrance was a slim figure in a black cloak. Ingo's temper prevented himself from noticing the intruder's presence, but the woman got his attention. "I heard that the one who struck down the great King is residing here for the night."

Ingo spun around in shock, "How the hell did you get in here!" He barked in a slightly shaken voice." It was evident that the woman was likely to be a Gerudo as she took out a dagger.

"That doesn't matter. However, I have another, final, proposition for you…"

Back inside…

For once, he thought to himself, Link couldn't eat another bite. But he didn't think of much more, because his tiredness seemed to have tripled as he yawned while making his way to the kitchen to help wash the dishes. He was stopped by Malon. "Oh no you don't!" she grabbed the bowl from his hands. "You're going straight to bed. Besides it's Dad's turn to wash tonight and it doubt that you are even capable of helping him."

Not really wanting to argue, Link simply gave a weak smile, "Thanks for the food"

"You're welcome. But from now on, try to remind yourself how to eat once in a while." Said Malon.

Just then, Link remembered something. "By the way Malon, what's up with Ingo. He certainly wasn't very friendly back there."

Malon's eyes cast down onto the floor. "Well, yes I suppose he has been quite cranky lately. But that's because there's a lot of bandits causing trouble in the area for a while."

Link was a bit shocked, "Really! Has anything bad happened here!?"

Malon quickly shook her head, "No, Nothing serious! They've been raiding travelers who walk through Hyrule field. And a few times, they've tried to steal the ranch's entire supply of milk and they've attempted to burn down the farm before. But since Ingo likes to sleep outside in a barn. He usually stops them before they take much. He really is a decent person, he's just a little prone to strangers, that's all."

Link raised an eyebrow. Ingo stopping entire bands of thieves with his mighty pitchfork and arsenal of hot air? He didn't think it was likely. Or maybe they were just real cowards. Maybe he'd look into it in the morning, but right now, he wanted rest, as he was again finding it hard to stand up. So instead of questioning Malon of Ingo's side of the story, he simply put on a smile. "Well, I guess you're just lucky that the weirdo likes to sleep outside. Goodnight."

Malon returned the gesture, "Yes, sleep well. You can pick up Epona in the horse stall tomorrow." And with that, she left through the door to go outside, probably to feed the cuckoos again or something.

Finding himself in his room without memory of how he got there, Link simply kicked off his boots again and hit the pillow face first. Shifting to his side, he saw Navi's faint glow come from inside his hat on the bedside table where he left it. Sleep took over in mere seconds…

A few hours later, just after midnight…

It was at this point, that everyone was sleeping. Or at least, was meant to be. But outside, a lone figure was creeping out of one of the barns, and across the yard. The door to the house was unlocked with a small click, as the none other than Ingo entered. Obviously not wanting to wake anyone else, he crept up the stairway, leading to the guestroom. Upon reaching the door, he hesitated for a while, making sure that this was what he should do.

_Alright, no problem, I'll just slip in, get out and nobody'll know what hit him. And that's when I'll get what I've been working fer this whole time… Anythin' I want from the Great Lord Ganon himself._

He replayed the Gerudo's words of promised rewards in his head for reassurance of his actions. Then he opened the door as quietly as possible, and made sure that the elf was asleep before he entered.

While he approached, he took out the dagger that was given to him not long ago. It gleamed in the darkness as Ingo rose it above his head, standing above the Great Hero of Time! Almost sniggering at the fact that this was so easy, he decided to make it quick, and took a last stride towards Link. Just then a surprisingly bright red light shot out at him in the face, stinging his eyes. Ingo was forced back as he tried to clear his vision, but he saw the bed again in front of him and dashed for it, knife raised. But Navi made it there first and practically collided with Link's ear as she screamed as loud as she could!

"LINK!!! WAKE UP!!!"

As Ingo thrust the weapon down, it dug deep into the wooden frame just after Link had shot himself sideways with a yelp, straight into the bedside table, making a loud and painful crash.

Ingo swore loudly as he yanked the dagger back out and ran around the bed to reach Link, who had hardly any idea what was going on, but scrambled quickly to his feet fast enough to catch sight of his attacker who made another jab for his face. He was just able to duck in time and flip Ingo over his back, sending him into the smashed debris.

Link reached behind his back to unsheathe his sword due to instinct. Finding that it wasn't there, and realizing why he was unarmed, he dashed for the bed as Ingo was getting back up, cursing his luck. Link threw the pillow off his bed to pick up his Kokiri sword from under it. He then turned around, finding that Ingo was making a final attempt as he lunged once more.

Wanting to end this now and ask questions later, Link flicked the miniature sword straight into the madman's wrist. This caused him to recoil greatly from his attack, yelling in pain, but the momentum still allowed him to get his dagger close enough to graze Link's right arm before he could get out of the way.

Ingo was down, though. And Link hardly noticed his own wound, because his train of thought was focused on finding out who was after him this time. But the corrupted man's anguishing cries, made it very clear who it was, and Link only looked at his face, which was exposed in the moon light that shone through the window, to merely confirm that it was, indeed, Ingo.

A moment of shock came over Link as he was the one who now stood above him, writhing in agony, the blade still penetrating his arm. Link knew that he was a nasty piece of work at times, but to try and kill him?! That seemed a bit much.

A pair of loud footsteps was heard as Talon and his daughter raced up the stairs and burst through the door. Talon had an iron poker from the fireplace, ready in hand. And Malon, who was in her nightgown, had picked up a saucepan from the kitchen. Both of them looked quite flustered and were even more shocked when they found out who was making the entire racket. Malon gasped, noticing that both Link and Ingo were bleeding, Ingo more so, and dropped the pan with a clatter to the floor. Talon though, stayed on guard. The pair were rooted to the spot. Navi was floating above, still glowing red.

"What in bleeding heck, is going on here!!!" he bellowed over the groans of amateur assassin.

Link didn't answer, because he didn't know, but he was soon going to find out. Taking a few strides over to where Ingo was crumpled on the floor, he bent down on his knees and interrogated.

"Now, why did you try to kill me." He asked, waiting for an answer.

Ingo was still in a great deal of pain, but Link's clear voice was difficult to ignore, "Aaarggh, g-go ta hell! Ain't no, unghh, way I'm telling ya anythin'"

Link didn't reply for a while, he just waited for Ingo to stop his profanity and for him to try and get up. He then roughly grabbed the Kokiri sword stuck in his wrist and ripped it out, causing him to yell very loudly again. Malon put her hands to her mouth, horrified, but neither herself or her father tried to stop Link, as it seemed at the moment that he had a good reason to be doing this to one who was almost part of the family.

Link done his best to show no remorse, and tried again; "I won't ask again, why did you try to kill me. Speak! Or you'll be answering…" Link dropped the small knife, got up and walked over to the bed, and reached in under it to take out his usual sword and turned to face Ingo again. "…to this." The blade might not have been razor sharp and gleaming with evil-repelling power, but Ingo seemed to get the message as he became quickly silent, eye's focused on the weapon that was pointing straight at his throat.

"It was the Gerudos, t-they made me do it!"

"I don't believe you. A Gerudo wouldn't trust a stranger with something so important, they'd do it themselves. Unless if they believed that you'd really be the best option, meaning that they'd know you…"

Ingo panicked, "It's the truth! They made me do it I tells ya!"

Link just continued "Is that why they come here at night? To "steal" your goods and for you to chase them away? Or is it that they come here to get food and supplies, since they wouldn't get it anywhere else due to their wanted names. So that you can get priceless rupees that wouldn't be worth anything to them otherwise?"

The look Ingo gave Link turned from nervous, to furious. Then, spotting the Kokiri sword on the floor near him, he grabbed it with his other hand this time. And before Link was able to stop him, he rammed into a very surprised Talon with enough force to make him fall backwards, out the door and off the stairs, where he fell almost a whole floor to the ground. Link was already in mid-swing with his sword, aiming for Ingo, but he just stopped it, an inch from Malon's face as the creep grabbed the girl and was holding her hostage.

Link was frozen to the spot and could only watch in despair as Malon cried out a muffled yelp, completely petrified. She tried to struggle free but was quickly subdued as Ingo roughly tightened his grasp and pressed the blade threateningly at her neck. She could merely grip at the arm that was holding her around the jaw with a whimper.

Ingo was taking steps backwards, "Don't move…"

Link wasn't following him as the deranged man edged towards the back of the room away from Link. "Drop her." Link growled through gritted teeth, "Or I'll…"

"Or You'll do what!?!" Ingo stopped at the window, it would be a steep fall, but he looked unhinged enough to do it. Seeing the fear in Malon's eyes Link would have to do something, and quick. He would have used his hookshot to get there quick enough before Ingo might react, but it was a very risky idea and besides, the rest of his stuff was still under the bed and he doubted he could get it without notice.

Running out of options, Link was ready to charge at them before Ingo jumped. But suddenly, a small bang ringed around the room as the same Gerudo responsible for this appeared in a flurry of smoke. Without caring who the person was, Link saw this distraction as an opportunity, lunged at Ingo and with a quick downwards swing of his sword, he sliced off the hand that Ingo was holding the Kokiri sword with. Ingo screamed louder than before, and instantly let go of Malon to grab his severely wounded arm.

Link pushed Malon aside as he gave a hefty boot to Ingo's chest, making him fly straight out the window. Not bothering to check if he was alive or not, Link spun around, only to see Malon cry out for help as she struggled against the Gerudo only to be pinned to the wall as the dark woman threw two darts at her gown's sleeves. Link almost reached her before the Gerudo threw a powder at his face, causing him to drop his sword and fall to his knees at Malon's feet as his eyes burned harder than he could have thought possible.

Navi darted around hopelessly trying to stop the bandit but to no avail as the fairy's actions were barely noticed. Link tried to blindly get up and defend Malon but he was merely kicked out of the way. As he fell to the floor again he heard Malon scream as the woman grabbed her shoulder. Above the commotion, the Gerudo yelled out at Link, "Come to the Spirit Temple before sunrise, or she'll breath her last!!"

Link's vision came back with a blur before he barely saw the silhouette of the thief as her took out another Deku Nut with her free hand. "NO!!!" he dived across the floor to grab hold of either one of them but it was too late as he shot through another heavy blast of smoke and straight into the debris of the table for a second time.

Link's mind was racing. His eyes were still on fire and when he got up, the pain of the cut on his arm came into full swing. Navi came down to his level.

"Are you okay?"

Link couldn't even realize that it was a silly question as he tore off a piece of cloth from the bed sheets and wrapped around his arm to stop the bleeding. He then tried to decide what to do next.

"Yeah…" the stinging of his eyes gradually began to ebb away as his sight returned. He walked back to where he dropped his sword and picked it up, then he went back to the bed and got his other equipment. His boots were already on, so he only needed to put on his mail under the Zora tunic, which he decided to keep on because he was determined to be heading for the Gerudo desert. And it was very cold there during the night so it would be useful.

But then he suddenly remembered something. Two things, actually. Talon and Ingo.

Deciding he should put Ingo out of his misery, and probably because he deserved it too, he took his bow and an arrow out and walked over to look out the window, Navi following. But when he looked at the ground, he saw nothing there. Only a weak trail of blood that eventually disappeared in the direction of the ranch's exit gate.

"He's gone!" said Navi.

Cursing under his breath, Link immediately headed to check if Talon was all right, so he raced out of the bedroom and down the stairs. Seeing Talon on the floor, he seemed to at least be conscious, as he was half sitting up, groaning, but his left leg was bent in a peculiar fashion, indicating that it was likely broken.

Link stepped over to help him up and limp over to a nearby chair. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Aye, but where's Malon?" Talon inquired, not caring for his own safety.

Link found this hard to say, but swallowed hard, "She's been kidnapped."

"WHAT!?!" Talon almost rocketed out of his seat, but the intense pain sprung through his leg and made him fall back down into the chair with a yell. He looked weakly back up at Link. "Where is she?"

"At the Spirit Temple. There's not much time, I must get there before sunrise." And with that, Link started heading for the door. But Talon stopped him. "You'll never make it on foot. Here take this…" He took out a key and gave it to Link. "It's the key to the horse stable, take Epona with you, she's still the fastest there is. Please save Malon."

"Ingo is still around here…"

"Pah! I don't give a damn about him. If he shows up he's as good as dead. Besides, I heard you gave him quite a reminder to not mess with you again. Now go! Before it's too late!!"

Link didn't want to waste any more time. He sprinted towards the barn with his fairy in pursuit and took out the key, fumbling with it until it finally decided to fit in the lock. Swinging the door open, he jogged down the stables. Finding Epona in the last one to the left.

He went to open the small door to let her out, but she reared up in the air when he got near. Link supposed that she was probably anxious due to the events that were going outside, but he tried to let the horse out again. Once more, the stallion neighed loudly, rising up on two hind legs.

"Epona's scared of you Link. I don't think she recognizes you!"

Link wasn't sure what to do. He knew it would be a bad idea to let her out if she had the intention of trampling over him. But then he remembered how he first got Epona on his side, and took out the Ocarina of Time of his pocket.

Easily recalling the tune that Malon taught him, Link played Epona's song. Once finished, he looked at the horse, seeing that it certainly seemed to have calmed down a little, so he opened the door and grabbed a nearby saddle and reins. Once the horse had gotten out of the barn, Link fitted them on and climbed up on top.

Navi decided to sit inside the rim of Link's hat, like she always did when they were traveling on horseback. Link quickly gave a sharp tap on either side of Epona with the heel of his boots and the horse rocketed forwards.

"WOAH!" Link was hardly prepared for the sheer speed of the horse and had to take a right around the small field because the left turn towards the exit was too sharp for such velocity. Galloping a lap around the outside of the fenced field, he couldn't resist grinning at the feel of adrenaline the rush gave him as it did the last time with Epona. He pulled left on the reins to leave the ranch through the gates and then headed straight towards the Gerudo valley, confident he'd reach Malon in time.

Meanwhile, at the Spirit temple…

The Gerudo reappeared on the stone Triforce platform outside the entrance to their hideout. She had Malon with her, who had fainted due to the strain of teleportation since she was not of Gerudo heritage. She planned on taking her to Kiva, who would come up with a strategy to use this girl to their advantage. But since the non-believers were searching for her and the rest of her comrades inside, she took a detour through a secret passage in the wall of the Temple and walked down the steep staircase that lead to the hideout, Malon slumped over her back.

Back to Link…

It was only a few more hours until sunrise, and Link would still have to journey through the desert. But he had reached the entrance to the valley, and he got off Epona to lead the horse up the thin wooden plank over the small spring. The weather was very foreboding, with heavy clouds covering the night sky. He headed towards the bridge with his stead's reins in hand, when suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot down and the rain poured, heavily.

Link was yanked back and forced to let go of the reins as Epona turned around and ran off, petrified. That hasn't been the first time, Link thought to himself. Another flare of lightning flashed, with a heavier clap of thunder. Link would have been soaked to the skin if it had not been for the turquoise blue material of his Tunic.

But then, the noise dimmed out, despite the fact the rain got heavier. All sound seemed to stop. Then the sound of footsteps made Link look up towards the bridge with a chill down his spine. His vision was very impaired from the torrential weather, yet on the bridge, he saw the dim out line of a figure, stepping ever closer towards him.

As the shadowy being approached Link, he began to see that he was not of this Earth, yet looked so familiar with his pale skin, long hair. And now his red eyes, which seemed to flare up considerably as he reached Link's side of the bridge. Link then remembered his encounter in the Lost woods, and saw that this was the same person, no, demon who he came face to face with.

Dark Link stopped. Staring at his prey from merely a few meters away. Link thought he was going crazy! How was this happening! Was it his imagination again? But then he remembered what he found in the Water Temple and realized who was standing before him with an evil smirk on his face.

"…You!" Link had suddenly found himself in a much more defensive stance, ready for the worst.

The shadowy image simply laughed out loud in the tense atmosphere, but eventually fixed his gaze back on Link. "Oh come now…" he said in his sinister voice, "…is that all you have to say to your own shadow?" He unsheathed the lethal blade on his back, "Pity…" He continued, "…because it's the last greeting you're likely to give!"

End Chapter.

A/N: Ohh! A cliff-hanger! I'm so evil! Muwahahahaha!!! Oo! But this is definitely my largest chapter so far.

Okay, I'm still not updating as fast as I'd like to, so I'll try to speed it up a little more. The next Chapter should be up by next Sunday. Maybe having a deadline will help me keep up. But if I get more reviews, I might update sooner.

P.S.: For those who don't know. There's been word from Nintendo that this game is coming out in Japan around Summer 2005. And I think a worldwide release is possible, but I'd expect it over in America and Europe by Winter. Plus, rumor has it that the Title might be called "Rains of Sorrow" there are others, but I can't remember them right now. They were a bit crap though any way…

Until next time…


	7. The Power Of Darkness

To Jade: thanks very much again for your continued support. I hope that you like this chapter too! But I believe that you are speaking of what Nintendo are calling their next generation console, the Revolution. You got the name right though, (apparently, It'll be so original, that it could might as well not use a T.V at all. Or maybe it can fly, upside down, and shoot lasers and make the toast at the same time. 0o Uhh, forget that… Just know that it will rule!

To frozen-sword: glad you like it. I actually had no idea what the plot was going to be. But now I've got one on the drawing board. I'm quite proud of it really….

To Anonymous: 0o! All I can say is that I hope this chapter came out before you combusted, spontaneously. Enjoy

Disclaimer: I don't own the Zelda series, but if the new Gamecube Zelda game turns out to have the exact same story line as this, then I might demand a major share in Nintendo profits.

Remember, your are my witnesses…

Chapter 7: The power of Darkness

The sound of the storm came back in full effect as Link unsheathed his own sword. The lashing rain seemed to have just penetrated through an invisible barrier, which had momentarily withheld it for a while. Link found it hard not to stay 100 percent focused on his evil counter-part, but he glanced around him and his surroundings to check if he was outnumbered by any monster friends Dark Link might have brought.

The shadowy copy stood poised patiently, waiting for Link to finish his stupid suspicions. Finding that there were no more opponents, he took out his shield, once again fixed on Dark Link.

"Pfft! Took your time…" Dark Link called out over the raging bellows of wind and rain. Link simply couldn't understand! He already defeated this demon! How was he here! So many questions were spiraling in his head, begging to be answered. But the dark elf had enough of these thoughts, and raised his blackened blade. "No more! Prepare yourself!"

Nothing could have readied Link fast enough, as the shadow had already burst past Link with his sword aimed at his side. But Link had accidentally dropped his shield in panic, and it luckily it fell in the way of the attack. But it was shot out of the way with such force; it flew over the steep edge of the soaked ground and into the spring, which was steadily rising in water level.

Link had just lost one of the only ways to defend himself, and was expecting his dark self to strike again finishing him off. But he turned round to see that he was standing at ease again, looking disgusted. "What! Is that seriously the best you can do!" he spat on the ground, "Pathetic! I might as well put you out of your hopeless misery if your not even going to try!"

Link was getting frustrated already, and he hadn't even moved. Forgetting any sense of fear or hesitation, he charged at him, leapt in the air and brought his sword down, finding it simply hit the soil where the demon was standing. He had merely taken a step side ways before Link had even jumped. Not caring, Link swung his sword around from the spot as Dark Link quickly crouched to the ground to avoid it.

Link had swung too hard and went off-balance so that his Dark side could easily straighten back up and give him a quick boot in the stomach, sending the Hero of Time splashing to the muddy ground, winded and out of breath. Link could only get as far up as his hands and knees before he got his breath back. Unable to understand why he was losing so badly. Why was this creep so quick? Link knew he had trouble defeating him before, but not this much. Dark Link was already standing right in front of him, sword raised to make this Link's shortest fight ever, and his last.

But Link had conjured the Nayru spell just in time as the sparkling barrier deflected the black sword. Link got back to his feet as Dark Link shielded his blood red eyes from the light, but soon recovered and began attacking at it again.

Link knew that his spell was impenetrable for at least a few minutes but he was forced back with every swinging blow that Dark Link dealt. It was clear that he was determined not to be stopped by the spell as each attack grew in strength. Link now getting forced back towards the spring, which was now more of a deep pool as it continued to fill up.

Fear was forced upon Link once again as he saw his enemy gather up energy with his blade handle gasped in both hands over his head, and with an unreal amount of momentum, he brought it crashing down. It clanged loudly with Link's sword as it shattered the barrier into a thousand pieces. As the precious diamond-like shards faded away, the last hope of Link's survival was knocked out of his grasp with the force and dug into the ground, too far away for it to be retrieved in time. _How could he break it?_ Link thought in despair. It never failed him before; the Great Fairy had told him herself that it was not possible for evil to penetrate its shell.

Another smirk of triumph came over Dark Link as he raised his weapon again to finish this pitiful struggle. Link could do noting but brace himself, accepting defeat. But as the blade was swung down at his face with only his two hands shielding it, the sword was reflected backwards. Link opened his eyes again to see a look of shock and confusion on Dark Link's face, as he was sure that the Hero should have been cleaved in two. But as Link lowered his hands he saw a trail of the same light blue spell briefly shining in the dark night, but fade away after what was less than a second. Link tried waving his hand in front of him while Dark Link stared, not sure whether he should attack again. His hands were glowing, and the light still continued to leave a thin, but very solid mark in the air before it disappeared.

Link understood what was happening pretty quickly. It seemed that the spell hadn't been completely destroyed after all. But it must have found the strain of covering a large area against such heavy attacks too much, and instead of breaking, just focused its defense on where he guided his hand. Dark Link gained this information too by reading the elf's thoughts and decided to kill him before he could react in time. But link had already waved his hand across him, causing the sword to bounce back again from the brief light shield. This might have not been much of a hindrance to dark Link, but the fact that his sword was heavily forced back meant that he lost his balance, and had to regain his stance before he could take another swing at Link's shoulder. This gave enough time for Link to ready himself for the attack, and he successfully deflected it with a down-wards wave with both hands to one side. Dark Link was forced back again, and his once cool attitude and calm breathing was soon turning into frustration and rage.

Dark Link continued to swipe his sword at any angle imaginable to catch his original off guard, but it seemed that Link could even predict where he was going to strike next, and he continued to parry each strike as effectively as the last. But although he was keeping himself out of harms way, Link was still retreating backwards, and he was running out of solid ground, fast. And to make matters worse, Link could begin to sense that the magic was running out of power, it's light seeping away.

Noticing this, Dark Link doubled in effort to destroy the waning spell, whacking its defenses with all of his strength. The attacks barraged out at a much quicker pace too, because the repelling power that the spell projected was weakening as well. Link needed his sword to keep any chances that he might have had to survive, but the demon didn't give him any chance to reach it.

He quickly came up with a plan, and got ready for Dark Link to attack him again. As the shadowy villain brought his sword down in a vertical slash, Link timed his move just right, and clapped his hands on the sharp blade while focusing all power that he had left at that point. An explosion of bright light illuminated the whole canyon as Dark Link was blasted with enough force to send him flying backwards. He hit the ground and slid all the way to the steep valley drop. He went over the edge of the cliff, but saved himself from falling by grabbing onto one of the ropes that supported the bridge.

Link took this opportunity to race over to his sword and retrieve it. As he picked it up off the muddy ground, he then took out his last Deku Nut as means to help his escape.

Dark Link couldn't believe what had just happened, as he hung over the raging river that had greatly grown in velocity due to the torrential rain. His disbelief was broken though, because with a dull thud, the blade of his weapon had penetrated through the wooden planks just above him and pointed near his face, inches away as it had landed on the bridge. Clearly a sign that his work was not yet done, Dark Link swung himself up on top of the bridge with a move that seemed to defy gravity, and ripped the sword back out from under him.

Link had just remembered why he was here in the first place. _Malon!_ He hoped that he had enough time to reach the Temple. Deciding to make a break for it across the bridge, Link could only pray that he had stunned his close nemesis long enough to get away. But he had barely turned to run for it when a shadow shot past him and formed back into it's solid-self as Dark Link jabbed for his throat. Link had barely dodged it, caught yet again by surprise, and his awkward duck to the side left him wide-open. Dark Link kneed the elf in the stomach, which give him enough time to spin around to gather momentum and smash Link with the butt of his sword. The hero was hit with great force and flew straight towards the once shallow puddle.

When he came back down to ground level, he shot straight past the thin plank walkway and plunged into the deep pool of water before thudding into the stony bed on his back. All sound seemed to cut of again, but with logical reason this time.

Dark Link had already teleported himself to where Link landed and roughly grabbed him at the neck as though the water had no effect on his maneuverability, and held him at arms length, waiting for him to drown a pitiful death. Link struggled to break free, but his strength at this stage had left him, so his efforts were useless. His sword was no longer in his hand, and the Deku Nut that he did have was useless to him under water. He could only hold his breath for as long as he could but feeling as weak as he did, it wasn't long before he let out bubbles of air from his mouth. He tried to breathe again, expecting his lungs to fill with murky water…

But to his and Dark Link's immense surprise, he gasped air back in and was still, miraculously, able to breathe. Then Link remembered that he was wearing the Zora tunic, which enabled him to survive for long periods of time underwater.

But this still didn't solve his problem, because Dark Link was unsheathing his sword again, and Link wouldn't be able to dodge any more attacks while under water. But as the shadow let go of him to grab his sword with both hands, Link felt his foot land on something hard. Hoping that it was something that he could use to defend him self, he kicked it from underneath it with his foot and grabbed it as it quickly floated upwards. The black blade was repelled back yet again off of the edge of Link's Hylian shield as it swung for his face. He was holding it completely wrong with both hands but it was still allowing him to float backwards to the shallow end while staying alive.

Dark Link was not getting the satisfaction of killing Link fast enough, and decided that he had already had enough. So he gathered up the dark powers that he had learned in his long imprisonment, and forged his weapon with energy so potent that it made the blade vibrate furiously. Link was almost there, but he couldn't get out in time as the demon lunged forward and blasted Link with a huge burst of dark energy, which shot out of the sword. Link could only lift his shield up in front of him as it was hit with such force that it shattered in a black explosion, forcing him to speed straight for the surface.

The sound of the heavy thunderstorm came back in full effect as Link hit wet, but solid ground again. But he was still aware that he was running out of time and scrambled back to his feet quickly and dashed for the long plank that was still intact, but was beginning to drift out of place as the pool was now over-flowing with water. Link tried his best to keep his footing on the narrow walkway as he crossed it, but a furious glow of two red eyes showed that Dark Link was still underwater, and pissed off.

Once Link had gotten halfway, the sound of his sword charging up was clearly heard even as the storm grew louder and louder. Link had almost gotten the whole way across when the huge beam of dark power shot upwards, right behind him, and blasted the wooden plank into pieces. Link could only lean forward and grab for the edge of the bank. Clinging onto it, the rest of him hit the muddy wall as his feet splashed the water. He pulled himself up, just before Dark Link's blade was thrown at him, the sword spiked itself into the spot where Link had narrowly escaped.

Spotting his sword again on the ground, laying dangerously close to the valley edge, Link ran as fast as he could to retrieve it.

Dark Link was not happy at all, and although he was hardly ever frustrated, he couldn't help himself from cursing loudly from under the murky water. Of course, the words only came out in the form of muffled bubbles streaming from his mouth, but it had the same, small effect of anger-relief. Not able to teleport to where Link was because of the large amount of dark energy drained from those last attacks, the dark figure trenched towards the shallow end. Getting back out of the water, he turned around and leapt the whole way across to the other side of the pool, and then reached down to yank his sword back out of the dirt.

Link skidded to a halt beside his sword, keeping low to the ground to keep his balance and not fall over the cliff-edge. Grabbing the weapon, he headed sideways for the bridge. Reaching it, Link continued to race ahead, with little caution towards what would happen next. He hadn't realized that the storm made a simple thing like crossing a bridge so dangerous. The wind seemed to double in force and made the whole structure swing to one side with frightening ease, making Link grab onto the support-ropes to prevent him from being blown off. He held his position for a while to wait for the bridge to stabilize again, and glanced down below him. Seeing the fierce torrents of the river crashing between sharp rocks that would induce the breaking of every bone in his body should he fall, Link became very eager to not slip off the bridge. But Dark Link was already making his way across the bridge himself. The dangerous conditions didn't seem to bother him either as he strode confidently to where link was crouched down, unable to move.

For some bizarre reason, the wind suddenly decided to blow in the other direction, making the bridge sway violently with it. Dark Link stumbled to a halt in front of his better half, a wry smirk on his face yet again.

"So this is how it finally ends…" he called out above the crashing currents of the river beneath them. Link had only one chance left to get him out of here, the Deku Nut. But Dark Link spoke again, "Oh, come on! Do you really think that piece of pointless fruit will actually help you?" He began to laugh. Link couldn't believe it, how did he know what he was planning! Dark Link continued, "Even if you did manage to blind me for a while, you'd still never beat me!"

He was right, it would be unlikely that Link would even be able to swing his sword at him without cutting the ropes off the bridge… But then Link had another idea. What if he wanted to, it was his last tactic and it just might work, or so he thought. Straight away, Dark Link's eye's intensified in the storm, as though he already knew what Link was planning to do. Then in a hasty maneuver to stop Link, he dashed forward, sword raised, but the Nut had already been thrown down before the shadow could shield his eyes, and the unnatural feeling of pain came over them. His attack fell short as he could no longer see his target, and Link built up enough courage to stand up on the tossing bridge and swing his sword at him.

He may have been blind, but Dark Link was still a threat. His long ears perked as he heard the sound of the blade speeding towards him and dodged it. But Link wasn't really aiming for him, and he instead sliced two of the ropes holding up the bridge. He then spun around and made for the other side, cutting the many supports along the way. Dark Link didn't want to quit at this point, so instead of getting off the hanging path, he gave chase, wanting to catch Link before he decimated the whole bridge.

As Link got half way, the bridge was swaying even heavier before, threatening to completely tip over. And the lashing rain was making it extremely easy to simply slip over into the huge drop of certain death. But he still continued to hack off every strand of rope that he passed, making the rest strain even more from the increasing weight. Dark Link was in close pursuit though, and was about to reach his prey when suddenly everything snapped!

The ropes that were holding up the bridge gave way, and all that was left was the long row of planks that held each other together. In a merciful twist of fate, the high winds had stopped, as both halves of the same person stopped. Link hadn't yet reached the other side, but it seemed that if he took another step then the wooden path would snap apart as well. And even if it did hold there was too much chance of him slipping over the edge because there was no longer a rope railway to support his advance. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that Dark Link had stopped to a crouched halt, but was still glaring at him, sword in hand.

He seemed as though he was prepared to go ahead anyway and kill Link, not caring for whether he fell or not. But it seemed that Link would never know, because the bridge had ripped apart, splitting between the two fighters as they sped towards their doom. Link had already grabbed his hookshot, and with a precise aim, shot it at the dangling sheet of boards at his side as he plummeted past them. He closed his eyes as his speed increased. Because the hookshot was being dragged down with him, it took much longer for its arrow-shaped anchor to reach the broken bridge. It had only snagged on when all of its chain length had been released. Link came to an abrupt stop in mid-fall and swung hard into the huge stone cliff-side. Thanking the Goddesses more than he thought possible, he released the small trigger on the item's handle, and steadily rose back up.

Reaching the broken splinters of wood, he unhooked his small weapon, making the plank that it had clamped onto shatter apart unsuspectingly. Link grabbed onto the next plank above with his other hand just in time. Not wanting to hang around any longer than he should, Link climbed up the slippery debris and finally made it to the top. Heaving himself back up onto solid ground again, he took a second to check if he was still breathing, and then got up incase if his dark half had made it back up too, and as trying to sneak up on him.

Seeing no one around, Link then looked over the edge, wondering if Dark Link had fallen on down. After a few moments, he finally spotted him quite far down hanging on to his sword, which he managed to spike into the cliff side. Dark Link then looked up, and saw that the Hero had made it back to the top. In a final act of desperation, he kicked himself and his sword off the stone wall, and disappeared, using his ability to teleport back up to Link.

But he still hadn't recovered enough power from before, and appeared just short of a few feet below Link. He swung his sword at him, but Link jumped back, avoiding the attack. When he looked over the edge again, there was no sign of Dark Link. Just the roar of waves and wind from far below.

Link looked up again, and saw someone on the other side of the valley. It wasn't Dark Link, the persons figure was much slimmer than that of his evil shadow. But before Link could identify the mysterious character, the rain suddenly began to stop, and all of the elemental chaos began to quickly fade away.

The storm had already disappeared as fast as it came. The clouds from above vanished and the whole area began to dry up for some supernatural reason. Link glanced down and saw that the bridge had suddenly decided to repair itself. Everything soon looked as though his battle with Dark Link had never taken place. Looking back to where the unanimous guy was, Link saw that there was now no one there…

"Huh?" Link was completely dumbfounded.

He was about to seriously consider checking if he had gone mad, but then a familiar light flew out from his hat and hovered in front of his face.

"What are you doing!" Navi seemed very anxious. "There's no time to look around!"

Link was a bit surprised at his companion's reaction. "What do you mean! Didn't you just see how everything turned to normal?"

Navi was tilting to one side in the air, "Huh?"

But Link continued, "And why were you not helping me back there! It sure would have made fighting that creep a lot easier!"

Navi was terribly confused, "Link, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!"

Link couldn't believe it, "What! How could you possibly sleep through all of that! I almost got killed back there!" Link began to point in a random direction behind them.

Now, Navi was simply worried for her friend, "I've been awake the whole time!"

Link wasn't giving up, "then what happened to Epona?"

"You let her go away once we reached the spring, then you were walking on your way here, looking very spacey, then you just stopped, so I tried to get through to you!"

The elf was finding it hard to take this in, but the fairy interrupted him again. "Look! There's no time to talk about this, it's almost sunrise!"

It was noticeable that the night sky was fading away and was growing brighter in turn for the Sun to come up. Deciding to discuss it later, Link sprinted off in the direction of the Gerudo hideout, hoping that he would make it in time…

End Chapter

A/N: Woah! I've gotta say that that was definitely a very tough one to write. A whole chapter of action! I spoil you. But please, let me know if you found this one enjoyable to read, cause looking back at it now, it seems hard to follow. Tell me if I should lay off the complexity okay? This was also four days late because I actually had to write this out twice. The first version was crap and I couldn't take it anywhere so I restarted it on Saturday. Forgive me if my spelling is bad, I didn't have enough time to go over it. The next chapter might take another week, but I'm off on half term now, so I might find some spare time to update soon.

P.S. I'm getting a DS! I had to import it because I live in Europe. It should arrive soon, I can't wait. But if your reading this and already have one, (You lucky consumer of Nintendo goods…) then please tell me what you think of it should you review. Oh, and while we're on that topic… REVIEW! _please _


	8. Desert Obstacles

Disclaimer: I'll make this short and sweet; I don't own the Zelda Series, geddit? To Someone: No worries! This is definitely not going to be one of those fics. Reasons for why are: 1. It has an action/general genre, and if it was a Malink story then I probably would have put in Romance as well. 2. This is supposed to be based on a game (a currently non-existing one, but you get the idea). If Malon occupied Link the main way through it, then I doubt that it would have a lot of Zelda gameplay 3. I don't think I'm capable of writing that kind of stuff. It would be awkward. So no, this is what it's gonna be like for the rest of the way. 

To Jade: Glad you liked it. But you're not getting a DS! That's TERRIBLE! I have pity on you…

To T-Bone: I've got mine too! But with only a Metroid demo… oh well, only a few more days till the UK release… And I'm glad you kept up with the fight last chap. As for whether Link was in a trance… well you'll have to wait and find out won't you?

To Youkai-Joseph: Gasp! You were gonna skip a chapter! Am I really that slow! Oo Well here's the latest one, hope you enjoy it too. That is, if you're even gonna read it! TT … _cries… _OK! I'll try to update faster! TT Chapter 8: Desert Obstacles 

Deep inside the Spirit Temple…

Kiva was walking down the steps to the dungeons, accompanied by two of her guards. She was hardly concentrating on the matter at hand as she stepped down the dimly lit staircase tough. She was still thinking about what happened down at the witch's chamber. That old bag had no right to treat her, the leader of this entire band of Ganon's supporters, in such a barbaric matter. Yet she dared not stand against the sorceress, because she feared that she would gain the same punishment again. She had attempted to hide the scorch marks inflicted on her by wearing her Princess robe. This was one of the only things that she had left that reminded her that she was destined to be the next Gerudo Queen. But she was exiled from the Gerudo tribe along with the rest of her band members when Naburoo found out that they still supported Ganondorf, and wished to bring him back.

Feeling a surge of pain jolt through her arm when she grazed it along the claustrophobic walls, she felt the urge to shout out in pain or swear loudly. But the two guards following her made Kiva hold it back.

_Just wait until the great Lord himself returns. _She thought to herself. _He'll give that hag what she deserves for harming his very on Royal Lineage. _

She reached the bottom of the stairway, ordered the two following her to leave, and strode down along the dungeon cells until she came across one of her more trusted spies. The sleek Gerudo was peering into the cell beside her, a grin was evident on her expression. It widened when she noticed that her leader had arrived. Kiva was still skeptical.

"I hope that you have good news for me, Ferline." She warned, "I'm not in the mood for any more disappointments."

The woman merely looked reassured and took a step back to allow Kiva to look at the captive inside for herself. She did so, and saw the limp figure of Malon lying on the floor of the cell, still unconscious. Kiva had no idea why this girl was here so she turned around to glare at Ferline menacingly, waiting for a damn good reason why the girl had been kidnapped.

"Allow me to explain," said Ferline, "I had followed the Hero of Time towards a farm ranch, were he planned to rest. And I learned that the worker there that sells us our food supplies was not very fond of his presence at all. So I persuaded him to murder our enemy during the night…" She was cut off by her Leader's haste, "So you've killed him?" she tried to keep her outburst calm, but a sense of anxiety could be heard from her voice.

"No, I'm afraid not. The fool failed even such an easy task, but during the commotion that followed, I managed to bring back her." The spy pointed back towards Malon, who now was starting to finally come back to her senses, but was not yet noticed.

Malon hadn't any idea what was going on. She tried opening her eyes to get a look of where she was, but since the blurred vision of gray stone was all that came to view, she assumed that she was lying down on the ground. She tried to move and get up but it was then that she also realized that her arms and legs were tied up, restricting her movements. She was a bout to call out for help, but the sound of two women talking nearby stopped her from doing so, and instead she decided to listen before she tried anything desperate.

"I still don't know where you're going with this," said Kiva. "Please hurry up and quit these pointless games" she was loosing her patience.

Ferline decided to cut to the chase, "Well, as I decided to kill the heretic myself, I found out that this kid was already being used as a hostage. It was obvious that he cared for her safety, so I figured that we'd have a much better chance of killing him if I led him over here where we could ambush him." Ferline seemed pretty confident in her plan. Kiva stood there for a slight moment then stepped up to Ferline and gave her a harsh slap across the face.

"You idiot! Naburoo and her guards are scattered all over the place! How the hell are we to "ambush him" if we can't even show ourselves anywhere near the entrance of this damn Temple" Kiva was clearly annoyed, but she calmed herself down to ask another question. "When did you tell him to get here?"

The slightly cowering spy straightened up again, if a little shook up. "N-no later than sunrise." She replied.

Malon had let out a gasp in reaction to hearing what they were planning, and she likely would have been noticed too, if it weren't for the gag over her mouth. Nevertheless, she tried her best to stay still so that she could hear the rest…

The leader gave out a small sigh, "Okay, we have only one hour left, he's likely already made it here by now."

"I doubt that," interjected Ferline, "he seemed unable to teleport with Deku Nuts, so he would be travelling by foot."

"Then perhaps we can cut him off at the desert." Kiva had quickly come to a decision. "Alright, round up half of our troops, and have them standing at the foot of the secret entrance, ready for a surprise attack after we sneak out past those fools above."

"What about her." The anxious spy was pointing towards her, assumed sleeping, captive.

"Never mind about the girl, we have no need for her. The Hero is already heading our way, so the Great Lord will decide what to do with her once that damn elf is out of the picture and he is brought back among us as King. Now leave, that's an order!"

Back to Link, at the Gerudo grounds…

Link was again focused on his task, he had already stalled far too much, and he doubted he would make it the whole way across the desert in time.

Time. Link was the very person that was supposed to have legendary power over such a thing, and yet so far, time was most certainly not on his side. He'd have thought that he could use his ocarina to teleport straight towards the spirit temple, but it didn't work that way. Apparently when Link teleported himself across Hyrule, it felt like mere seconds for him to get to his destination. But when he tried using the technique when he was sent on an errand to transport frog-eyes, he discovered that time in the world around him sped up much faster. Meaning that if he tried it now, he'd probably end up at the Spirit Temple next morning.

Shuddering at the thought that he'd be too late, Link quickened his pace as he swiftly made his way across the Gerudo Hideout. He didn't want to let anyone know he was there, otherwise he would have to explain what was going on, which would take away more precious time.

He reached the gate into the desert, but it was closed. Navi, who was following, called out above the harsh winds that had picked up from the other side of the gate. "Link, you'll have to climb up that ladder and turn the gate crank from up there to open it." Link took a glance upwards at the daunting task. "To hell with that!" shouted Link. He scaled the tall ladder with speed that showed he had climbed them many times before. When he reached the top of the thin stone tower, he simply ran past the wheel crank that would have slowly opened the gate, and instead jumped off the other side. Navi though her elfish friend had gone insane, "LINK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

Link was falling fast, but there were two Gerudo flag posts sticking out the side of the lookout tower, one placed right underneath him. He grabbed onto the first one that he fell past. His fall had abruptly halted, making the thin wooden post creak and bend under the stress of extra weight. He let go so that he could grab the next one that was another few meters below him. But when he did, the pole snapped like a twig, allowing Link to fall at an increasing speed to the ground.

"Crap!" Link hit the sandy banks hard, falling on his back. Navi flew through the iron bars to the other side and tried to find where he landed. But the raging sandstorm had already affected their surroundings, and Link was mostly covered in sand. Finally spotting Link's blue hat from the Zora tunic sticking out from the sand, Navi quickly darted over to it to see if Link was even alive anymore. But he forced himself out from under the cold sand before she could even reach him. Link got to his feet and tried to spit out the salty grains in his mouth.

"Blergh!" The taste was pretty bad, "Remind me not to do that again, Navi." He began heading forward again, perhaps at a slightly slower pace because his back felt as though it should have broken back there.

"Link you idiot!" yelled Navi "You could've killed yourself! And look! You've lost your shield!" Navi had only noticed at this point that Link was without a defensive weapon.

Link was hardly paying much attention, "It got blown up by my mirror dark side!" the dry winds were hard to shout over. Not only because they were really loud as they whipped over the desert landscape, but also because sand was getting blown in his face all of the time, and Link had already had enough mouthfuls of it to do him for more than a lifetime. Navi had no idea what Link was talking about but she decided to hide in his sandy, yet "safer than outside" hat for shelter from the dusty storm.

Link had gone as far as the quicksand trench. Stepping over it to cross would surely result in a one way trip under ground, and he hadn't got his Pegasus' boots to help him walk on the unstable torrent of sand. Trying to run over it was not an option this time, and would be a very stupid move. But beyond the trench, Link could barely spot one of the flag posts that marked the route across the desert. Hoping it would reach; Link took out his hookshot and carefully aimed for the thin pole on the other side. He steadied his hand and pulled the trigger. As it zipped through the air, Link lost sight of the hook, but the thud of iron penetrating wood told him it was a direct hit. He let go of the trigger, and the chain pulled him roughly through the air with it.

Reaching the other side, he caught sight of the stone underground bunker, which was used to provide shelter in the desert from such weather hazards that was being experienced at the moment. He ran towards it, intent on going past it onto the path to the Spirit Temple since he knew the way by heart and didn't need to summon the ghostly guide to help show the route.

But as he reached the entrance to catch his breath for a second, two Gerudos jumped off the roof of the structure above him. One landed on Link's back, catching him completely by surprise, and executed a maneuver that flipped Link backwards. He hit the ground on his back, but he managed to roll and land awkwardly on his hands and knees, trying to spot the attacker who was sleazy enough to pull such a trick. But before he knew it, the second Gerudo had landed in front of him and she threw a strong scented powder in his face.

Link couldn't believe he had to suffer the same eye-stinging pain for the second time in one night. He wasn't in a good enough position to take out his weapon, so instead he tripped up the assassin who was foolish enough to gloat in front of her victim for even a second, and she hit the ground too. Link quickly got up and unsheathed the sword on his back.

Taking a look around, he didn't see any enemies about the place, even the one that was supposed to be in front of him had vanished without him noticing. It was at this point that Link took notice that his eyes, were in fact not stinging like hell, but he was starting to feel a little dizzy…

_Sleeping powder! _

Link guessed that he probably had only a few seconds before it would take full effect. Luckily, he had a blue potion that he received from Saria, which he took out of his belt pocket and downed in one gulp. It would prevent him from being knocked out, but the powder still made him almost nauseous and likely would continue to affect him for next few minutes at least. But as Link caught sight of another three camouflaged bandits advancing towards him in the disorientating conditions surrounding him, he doubted he would even last that long. Even Navi was having trouble on marking over the thieves' location, so Link decided to head inside the stone shelter. He jumped the whole way down to the bottom and landed hard on his feet, making him stiffen for a moment, but he recovered and prepared himself for the others to come after him. None came; it was as if they had drove him in here on purpose, so he alarmingly turned around to expect some kind of trap.

Standing on the other side of the underground, torch-lit room was another Gerudo, but her clothing gave Link the impression that she was probably the leader of this group that had been giving him all of this trouble.

"So you're the fool who locked the almighty King away from us," Kiva remarked to one of her two guards standing nearby, "He's much more handsome than I expected."

Link had no time for this! The Sun had already risen by now, "Where's Malon!" he demanded, keeping his eye on all of them.

Kiva sighed, rolling her eyes to the ceiling, "That doesn't matter, If I were you, I'd be much more worried about yourself." She snapped her fingers, making a pair of dark, evil looking knights, wearing black metal armor, to appear in a swirl of dark purple smoke. Both of them were wielding large, deadly axes that shimmered in the torch light due to their sharpness.

_Darknauts._

Link didn't understand, how could anyone other Ganondorf command these foul creatures, never mind summon them. He would have to think about later though, because she ordered both of the guards and Darknauts to get him. The two Gerudos had already reached Link in a second so he waved his sword around to keep them at bay. He knew that the heavy knights may have been much more powerful but they sure weren't quick, so he dared to do something so risky as to run straight for one of them, the two bandits hot on his heels. The mindless minion raised its axe and took a swipe for Link, but he already had rolled to the side, predicting the move and had avoided it by far. It was a different story for the Gerudo who had unwittingly followed too closely to Link. She only barely escaped from being halved in two, but as the Darknaut swung around to face Link again, it dragged its axe with it and the woman got knocked out as she was hit on the head with the flat side of the axe.

It would take a while for the two Darknauts to catch up as they lumbered across the room towards Link, who was fending against the other Gerudo. This one was definitely skillful; she parried all of Link's jabs with his sword, and had attempted the odd attack with one of her scimitars when Link let up his defense for even a second. This would have been much easier if he had his shield, using his sword to attack and block at the same time was difficult, especially since his adversary was wielding two weapons.

The Darknauts had caught up by now though and one took another large swipe at its target. Both of the agile combatants dodged out of the way, the Gerudo was showing clear signs of annoyance towards the minion's lack of intelligence, and decided to stand aside while the other two imbeciles continued there attempts to take the elf down.

Link was not in a good situation at all. The Darknauts may have been slower than most warriors, but their attacks had devastating potential with each blow. There was no telling when one may get a lucky hit, and then it would be all over. One swung its axe sideways while Link vaulted over its head and landed behind it, the axe smashed into the solid stone wall and got stuck. The heavy demon knight grabbed the axe handle with both of its hands and tried to yank it back out. This gave Link some time to focus on the other one that was closing in fast and brought its axe downwards, aiming for his head. Link ducked to the side and inflicted some minimal damage with his sword before the enemy could recover.

_This is no good!_ Thought Link. _I could only hurt these guys with the Master Sword, but what do it do this time?_

Dodging again from another close encounter, Link guessed that he'd get nowhere unless he removed the thick armor that his foes were wearing, or at least find a weak spot that was unprotected from it. Taking a more searchful look on the Darknaut as it yet again stepped towards him for another attack, he noticed two glowing red beads where its eyes should've been. So he tried taking out his bow for a different approach in tactics, just before jumping out of the way of another swipe. The monster seemed to have enough smarts to figure out what Link was up to, so it began to form its slow march to a much quicker jog, barely giving Link enough time to take out an arrow as well before having to dodge again. He readied the shot and leveled his aim, which was hard to keep steady because of the faint feeling from that powder. Just as the Darknaut raised its weapon for the final time, Link let the arrow shoot straight at its head. The projectile zipped straight into the narrow slit in the demon's helmet and an unnatural shriek of agonizing pain told Link that he had struck it right between the eyes.

With a loud thud, the huge axe fell on the stone ground as the pitiful monster clawed at the air, probably hoping to grab Link before it inevitably disappeared into whatever hellish place that was the afterlife for all demonic forms. Link managed to stay out of the way though, and the Darknaut finally hit the ground before it exploded into a large burst of purple fire, and vanished. Link couldn't take in his small victory though, because the other knight had given up on retrieving its own axe and instead stepped over to where its fallen brethren was and picked up the weapon that had been dropped there. The Gerudo had also decided that it was now safe enough for her to take her own turn as well.

She got to Link first and began to attack with both swords in hand whilst Link had his own out again, barely managing to defend himself. The second opponent had arrived at this point, and unfortunately, it seemed to have taught itself a new trick from its break from the fight. The Darknaut hammered its axe into the ground with great force, not aiming for Link in particular. It made the entire floor vibrate with the force of a minor earthquake and Link lost his balance and fell. It would have given the Gerudo a huge opportunity kill the Hero of Time, but she had fallen too.

The Darknaut showed no signs of boasting while standing above his adversary; it simply gripped the axe and readied the weapon above itself. Links head was pointing towards the evil knight, so he saw an upside-down view of it, about to bring the axe down on his chest. The Gerudo had fallen at his feet, so thinking quickly, he kicked at her to send himself sliding right under and between the Darknaut's legs right before the axe came crashing down onto the stone floor again.

The Darknaut had taken its time figuring out what just happened, allowing Link to get up on his feet from behind and grab for another arrow. It was then that Link realized that he didn't have any left! The knight had finally turned around to spot him and readied its axe again, so Link made up his mind and decided to improvise. He leapt at the slightly surprised demon and landed with one foot on its shoulder while grabbing its helmet for support, and with his free sword hand, he jammed it in the same spot as last time.

The result were a bit more gruesome though, as black blood began to spray out from the wound in the Darknaut's face while it screamed very loudly for something that had probably never used its voice before, grasping at the blade that was used for its demise. It died much more quickly though and had disappeared in flames not long after Link had landed on the floor again.

The elf was getting a little tired, taking in deeper breaths, but he leant over and picked up his sword, which was now stained black.

The Gerudo had only gotten up by now, and when she noticed Link standing in front of her, weapon in hand and his once clean blue tunic covered in demon blood, she apparently didn't fancy her odds for victory. Especially since both of her scimitars had been dropped due to the violent kick from before. She took out a Deku Nut and vamoosed out of there.

Link looked back at where Kiva was standing before the fight had even started, and found that she had left as well. The only person left was the bandit that had been knocked out at the start, but she was starting to come around quick, and Link didn't want to let his last lead to get away. The unarmed woman had only gotten as far as her hands and knees before Link grabbed her by the arm and demanded to find out what he should do next by repeating his question.

"Where's Malon?" said Link with a sense of urgency.

The Gerudo replied with shame due to her disappointing failure, "I… don't know, but I remember our leader mentioning something about a kid being held in one of our dungeon cells…" Thankfully, this group member seemed to be quite forward in giving information, which was good, because Link was certainly not in the mood to interrogate at the moment.

"Then take me there, now!" he took out a Deku Nut and forced it into her hand. The woman hesitated for a moment, as if to formulate a plan, but Link put more pressure on her by wrenching her other arm behind her back, threatening to break it, and she threw it down, making them both disappear…

Outside the Spirit Temple…

They both appeared again on the Triforce platform that was made of gray stone, just like they way Link could, only at a much faster speed. He definitely had to learn how to do that.

"Where's the fastest way there?" asked Link, his tone less harsh since the Gerudo was cooperating so well so far.

She pointed towards an area on the wall of the huge Temple, "Right there, touch that spot and an opening in the wall will appear, leading you to a stairway. Go straight down it, and at the end will be the entrance to the dungeons." She looked to the ground, ashamed of her weakness, and preparing for herself to be put out of her misery.

"Good…" Link began to run towards the place he was directed to, but he was stopped by the surprised thief. "Wait, your not going to kill me?"

Link stopped and turned around, "I don't like to murder people." He said simply.

"But you killed those two Darknauts." She was a bit confused. All of her time that she had spent with her fellow outcasts, she had been taught that the Hero of Time was really a ruthless killer who sought to only destroy great leaders like Ganondorf, and anyone else who would get in his way.

"Those were demons" replied Link. "They are not really alive, and don't deserve to exist among others."

He turned around again, touched the wall, and as it vanished to give way to a secret passage, he raced out of sight, finally seeing light at the end of his mission to rescue Malon, leaving the Gerudo with her life.

End Chapter

A/N: Okay, another chapter. Hope it didn't take _that_ long. I'm in the middle of studying and doing coursework for my GCSE's right now, and I've got my DS (which TOTALLY rulz! Just to let you know) AND I've just recently got a new baby sister! So don't think too spitefully at my slow speed.

Next chapter should be up sooner than this one took though, so READ AND REVIEW! Thanks.

P.S. I forgot to mention earlier that from now on I'm gonna call Dark Link; Dark. Cause that way it causes less confusion and when I look back at that last chapter it just seems silly.


	9. Rescue

To T-Bone: Sniff only one review… anyway, I'm sure that this update has been far too late for everyone, including me because I now hate myself. I hope that you're still reading though, and if you are then I can say that the average word count for every chapter from now on will be about 4,000 to 5,000 words… (just right…)

Disclaimer: Judging by the fact that the new Zelda plot details shown at E3 are a bit too different from mine, I guess that I've still got no means of power over Nintendo… damn, oh well, maybe next time…

Chapter 9: Rescue

As the lone patrolling guard left the dungeon room for a small break, Malon got up from her phony coma and tried to wriggle her wrists out of the rope that had been tied very tightly. Having no success, she looked around and spotted a significantly jagged rock that was sticking out of the wall. Awkwardly hopping over to it and turning around, she tried cutting the rope with the sharp rock. After a few minutes, one of the bonds finally split, allowing the rest to fall off, freeing Malon's hands.

Now she had to free her legs. Since she had her hands free, Malon tried to properly untie the rope tied around her ankles, but it was very tight and it took her a while again until one of the knots loosened. Her escape plan was taking longer than expected already, but if Link really was going to be ambushed by those Gerudos, then he might get hurt, or worse! And she sure as hell wasn't going to wait here to find out.

The walls of Malon's prison were made of solid stone that had a dense color of gray as opposed to the normal tint of sandy orange that most of the temple's structure had. But one of the sides were made from rusty iron bars that seemed to had been eroded considerably, but they were still far too thick for Malon to damage and too close together for her to slip through. The locked door also was made of the same material, the lock was small, and it seemed that it would only be opened by a small key…

Or perhaps a hairpin…

Deciding to give it a try, Malon reached up and took out a pin that she had luckily not bothered to take out before going to bed. The pin fitted okay, but Malon hardly had any idea how to lock-pick, she just hoped that it was a simple lock. She tried to shift any of the metal components inside but they were too heavy and the feeble hairpin started to bend under the pressure and eventually snapped!

Letting out a fed-up sigh, Malon tried to find another pin…

A few moments later, Malon took out what she was sure was the last hair accessory that she had. This one was a little more flexible than the last one, so she bent it until the pin was folded upon itself to make it a little more durable and tried again.

More stressfully long minutes went by, and Malon was beginning to loose hope since the Gerudo jail guard was sure to be back soon from her time-ou...

_Click!_

Malon couldn't thank the Goddesses enough! She immediately sprung back up to her feet and pushed hard against the heavy gate. It didn't budge at first, but eventually, the loud screech of rusted iron hinges giving way rang all the way across the room and up the dark staircase. Malon froze, hoping that it would stop the dreadful noise from warning anyone nearby. But the sound of hurried footsteps echoing down the stairs was soon clearly heard.

Panicking, Malon squeezed through the tight opening that she had made, scurried across the large room, blindly grabbing a spear from a bunch on a wall rack, and dived into the shadows, right beside the foot of the stairs. The guard stopped running when she approached the entrance to the dungeon cells and quietly crept in, past Malon, who was now standing right behind the unsuspecting Gerudo and was holding the weapon above her head.

Taking the opportunity quickly, Malon brought the wooden spear crashing onto the back of the guard's head as hard as she could. The Gerudo was still in the shadows, so all that Malon could see was that her target had jarred on the moment on impact, and after a second of motionless standing, the guard fell to the ground. Malon couldn't believe that she had accomplished such a feat, but something was wrong. As the person hit the ground, her hair fell off! But on closer inspection, Malon noticed that it was not hair, but a long hat…

The Gerudo, who had a slightly more muscular figure than the others, groaned in a voice that was a bit deep for that of a woman as well. And if that wasn't weird enough, since when did Gerudos carry long swords on their backs while wearing blue tunics…

"OH NO!"

Malon dropped the spear right away and bent down to see if Link was still alive. But Navi had flown out of his hat, completely bewildered of what was going on, but when she saw the lifeless state of The Hero of Time, she went into hysterics!

"LINK!" she screeched before noticing Malon who was in a complete fluster and had no idea what to do. "WHAT HAPPENED!" The farm girl had rolled Link on his back but she could hardly tell if he was breathing since she was trying anything that came into her head, but with no success. "I-I thought he was a Gerudo!" said Malon as she picked up his hat and tried to fan some air at his face.

The Fairy spun around and saw the spear on the floor, and gasped when she suddenly came to a conclusion, "YOU KILLED LINK! HOW COULD YOU! HE WAS ONLY TRYING TO COME ALL THE WAY OVER HERE TO SAVE YOUR LIFE! AND THEN YOU KILLED HIM!" Navi continued to shout as loud as she could, possibly alerting every damn thief within the hideout.

Malon may have been in a panic, but she doubted that Link was dead, she only hit him with the handle end of the spear, and she finally noticed that he was indeed breathing. But the fairy was still making far too much noise, so Malon stood back up and grabbed Navi as she zoomed around the room and past her head, making the racket stop all of a sudden. Only Navi's muffled voice was heard, but it was only a few moments until the sound of many footsteps racing around the corridors from upstairs joined in. It seemed as though hundreds of Gerudos were making their way down to the dungeon to investigate what the problem was.

Malon let go of Navi and spoke quickly before the floating light could continue her acts of despair. "Link isn't dead! He's just unconscious, so help me wake him up before every guard in this place comes storming in here!"

Navi got the message, and flew over to Link's face just to check if Malon was telling the truth before she darted over to a corner of the room were there was a bucket that was half full of stale water.

"Over here!" said Navi, beckoning the girl to come over. Malon rushed over and picked up the leaky bucket. It was surprisingly heavy, so it took her a while before she could heave it all the way back to Link, who showed no signs of getting up anytime soon. Malon planned to pour the cold water over the elf's face, but before she tried to pick it up again, the footsteps were heard coming down the last staircase. Malon picked the bucket up too fast in her haste and instead of spilling the water on Link, she dropped the bucket and it landed on his head!

"OW!"

Link's hands clasped on his forehead in pain as he sat up immediately, the bucket rolled across the room, spilling water all over the stone floor, and Gerudos were now filing into the dungeon. Link didn't have any idea what was going on, but he soon felt double the pain when the back of his head started to really throb.

"Ouch, what happened?" Link wasn't asking anyone in particular, but he saw the group of enemies at the entrance, all armed with spears this time, not scimitars, since there was rarely a reason to use such offensive weapons inside their own hideout. But the great number of foes was dangerous enough for Link to consider running, if it were not for the fact that they were blocking what seemed to be the only exit.

Link was about to unsheathe his sword, suspecting that they were the ones who sneaked up behind him and tried to knock him out or something, when he also noticed that Malon was standing right beside him, looking very guilty. Link didn't notice though, he was very surprised that he had found her so easily. He would have asked if she had been hurt at all, but one of the Gerudos had lost patience from waiting for Link to ready himself and attacked both him and Malon with her spear.

Link reached out and grabbed the middle of the wooden stick, its sharp end held just short from his face. He quickly used his other hand to take out his sword and slice the wooden pole in half, rendering the Gerudo's half of the weapon useless. Malon thankfully ran over to the back of the room to get out of Link's way, but another three Gerudos came rushing forward while maneuvering around the first one to try and surround Link. He answered this threat with a spin attack, which forced most of them to back off, but one of the four decided to duck under the attack and trip link up. Link was about to hit the ground when he drove his extra weapon into a crack on the stone floor and used it to swing himself around and kick back at the Gerudo, causing her to crash straight into the large group that was now forming at the foot of the stairs.

One of the enemies raced over from behind to predictably grab Malon and take her hostage again, but Link took out a small boomerang that he had used many times as a kid and threw it at the unsuspecting Gerudo. It spun fast towards the space that was right beside Malon, and just as the Gerudo reached out a hand to grab her, the boomerang smacked right into the wall, pinning the Gerudo's wrist along with it and allowed Malon to get away. Link didn't have time to see if he was successful since another bunch of Ganon's followers rushed forward to attack, but he was confident in his aim so it didn't really matter.

Navi had also joined in, darting towards the Gerudos that she believed were the biggest threat in order, making it a little easier for Link to defend each lethal strike. But it was gradually getting more and more crowded as Gerudos continued to flow into the fight. It was getting to the point that they were simply filling the room to make it harder for the young warrior to maneuver. Link was finding it very hard to hold them back, and they had eventually forced him to retreat backwards until he had been cornered along with Malon. He couldn't use Din's Fire like he did in the woods because Malon would certainly get caught in the blast, and if he tried to play his ocarina to let them escape then they'd both get impaled by spears before he'd play a single note. Besides, it could only teleport one person at a time.

Link was about to give up on waiting for an idea and simply charge with his word when all of the female guards stopped their menacing advance, as if they had all suddenly frozen. Then they all stood at ease, as if they were under hypnosis. The entire band, which consisted of about fifty Gerudos by now, moved to either side of the room, forming a long gap across the middle.

Link found it difficult not to carefully watch the weird actions of this crowd, but he pried his eyes away from their blank stares long enough to notice that a short, old woman was standing… no, levitating over the ground at the dungeon entrance on the other side of the row of space. Link immediately took her for a witch due to her unusual appearance. And the supernatural powers to hover and presumably control minds of massive crowds kind of gave it away too.

She raised one hand and held it out in front of her face, towards Link, eyes fixed in concentration. He was taking a step forwards to ask what the hell was going on, but with a mere flick of her wrist, he was suddenly shot upwards.

"WOAH!"

He collided into the solid stone ceiling with his back with a crash as dust and small pieces of rubble scattered where he hit. It was a hard thump, but he didn't seem to be dead as he opened his eyes again to see that he still hadn't fallen from the high position. The same invisible force was still compressing him against the rock.

"Even with the my power to see and know every present action that you take…" said the witch who was stepping across the room to the spot that Link had been ejected from, "…I still found it hard to believe that you would be so foolish as to break into the most secure stronghold of warriors, that are all charged will the mission to annihilate you." She stopped pacing from underneath the helpless Hero and glanced upwards. "And yet here you are, throwing away whatever hope you had from saving the entire of Hyrule… no… the world, from the resurrection of Ganon."

Link was trying hard to focus on these words, but following a conversation was not so easy when one is being viciously pinned to the ceiling. Then it came to him that the witch was aware of what Ganondorf's intentions were, despite all of these other Gerudos stupidly believing that he would come here to help.

"Since it will be your own death that will bring back the Great King of Evil, I think that you may deserve to at least know what is going on…" she continued. Then Link felt the forces pushing him vanish, dropping him a long distance all the way down to the ground again. But just before he hit the ground, Link was saved by another invisible spell, smacking him into the wall where he was pinned again, at least twice as hard than before, hardly able to breathe. It seemed that the witch needed to recast the spell in order to increase its strength.

"ACK!"

"You see…" said the old hag, "Most of these faithful servants are not helping me on their own behalf. Or at least they wouldn't be if it were not for my unique abilities to bend their motives to my will." She looked around her, admiring her own work as her gaze followed upon each member of Ganon's 'followers', who were still eerily standing quiet. Link took this moment to painfully turn his head to the side to check if Malon was okay, but she too now had the same monotonous stare in her eyes.

Anger welled up inside him, causing him to struggle against the unseen bonds that were increasingly crushing his chest, but to no avail. Thinking a little more rationally, he decided that his own magic would give him more of a chance, but he would only get one try…

"The great Lord may not give a damn about any of us when he is free, but that doesn't concern me. All that I care is that I much preferred this place when he ruled the lands. Depriving power and wealth from all of those who never deserved it in the first place. Hylians are a disease on this land, and he aims to rid them of this world. And I, for one, will help him do just that, and the Gerudo will reign their righteous place once more!"

Link butted in, "You forgot one more thing," an enigmatic grin on his face, "You're a complete nutcase!"

And sure enough, just like the first time, the witch let go of him and prepared to hit him with a final smack that surely would have crushed very bone in his body, but Link was prepared and conjured his spell first whilst dodging to the side. The witch's spell wasn't so invisible anymore as her eyes burst into flames and she fired a huge silhouette of red towards Link with a raging howl. It was slowed down by the same bright blue barrier that Link had used against his dark half from before, allowing him to slip out of the way before the huge ramming spell smashed into the wall right behind him, causing a rumbling tremor throughout the entire Temple.

The huge masses of hypnotised women stumbled, some of them clumsily fell, but a few seemed to wake up from their zombified state, taking in their surroundings and wondering why they were here. The witch realised that she had momentarily lost concentration on her servants, but she soon spun around in mid-air with an evil glare causing all of the Gerudos and Malon to fall back into complete control.

Her concentration should have been focused on Link though, because he took out his hookshot, shot it right past the mad villain where it snagged into a wall before pulling him up and past her position, allowing him to deliver a harsh kick that sended the old bag flailing downwards and onto the stone floor. Link landed heavily nearby, "I've always been told to respect your elders, but in your case, I think I should make an exception."

A loud shriek was yelled out in turn, making everyone else in the room monotonously glare at Link as the Gerudos started to advance towards him. Link wondered why in Hyrule's name that the witch wasn't trying to take direct control of his mind instead, but Navi, who was floating around his head, seemed to be in deep concentration; blocking the evil curse that attempted to deprive him of his thoughts.

He was completely surrounded now, and there was no chance of him being able to fight all of these hostile aggressors; at least not without hurting Malon, and she was striving to strangle him anyway.

He saw the exit on the other side of the room again, and decided that it was the only way to get enough time for a plan. A Gerudo mindlessly threw her spear at Link's face, so he ducked while grabbing the spear that was zipping right above his head and swung it around the floor, making the bunch of Gerudos that had closed in on him fall and stumble into one another. Taking advantage of this diversion, Link legged it past the masses of brainwashed women who were unprepared and couldn't stop him in time. Reaching the foot of the stairway, the Hylian sprinted up its torrent of stairs, deciding to plough past the numerous doors at either side of him, hoping that it would give the Gerudos more area to search the further he ran.

Then a group of footsteps were heard further up ahead, so Link rammed sideways into the next frail wooden door that he passed. It thankfully burst out of its weak frame, allowing Link to clumsily fall into the room inside. Getting back up quickly, he noticed another door to the side, it looked much more sturdy since it was made out of iron, so Link decided not to try and break this one down.

He tried to open it, because its largely decorated design of the Gerudo insignia hinted that it was an entrance to an important area, but it was locked. Looking down, he noticed that a key decorated in the same design as the door was already fitted inside the keyhole. As he attempted to unlock the door with it, the noise of the group of Gerudo from upstairs was rushing quickly to the room he was in, making Link panic and fiddle with the rusty key that wasn't keen on working very smoothly. After a hefty nudge in the right direction, it clicked open loudly and let Link push the heavy door open with quite a bit of effort.

No sooner had he began to close it again when the hoards of mind slaved warriors broke into the room behind him. He saw one of them run over trying to stop him through the ajar position of the door, but he had shut it in time and fortunately locked it with less difficulty than before. He put the key in a pocket; perhaps it may come in handy again.

_Good, this'll give me some time… _thought Link as the door began to be pointlessly battered at from the other side. There was no chance of them getting through, so Link concentrated on what he was going to do.

I came here to get Malon out, but now she's under that freak's control, and now I think it would help everyone if I stopped this problem of brainwashed Gerudos before it gets any worse.  
Then Link wondered why this magic wasn't noticeable from before. They seemed somewhat sane previously but now they hardly looked to be in their own right mind. Perhaps that witch is getting a bit desperate at this point.

Navi stopped her defensive spell against the mind control since the witch had stopped her attempts at an easy way to win, and called out for Link's attention.

"Hey Look! Over there!"

Link looked over in the direction that his fairy companion was flying in, and was only realizing the large alter at the other side of the room. A large blue chest was sitting at the top. The enormous female statues that were positioned on either side of it implied that the chest contained something valuable.

Forgetting about the struggles to intrude from the other side of the door behind him, Link rushed over to where Navi was hovering at the top of the fleet of steps. Reaching the large chest, Link tried to open it, but it was locked. Link took out the key again, hoping it would work. It took a bit of endeavor again, but the aged lock inside gave way. Link heaved it open as a white glow escaped out of the container, causing him to cover his eyes for a moment. He peered inside, and recognized the reflective shimmer from the item that he once had before…

A mirror shield!

Link thought that the mirror shield was one of a kind, but now it seems that these weapons were probably used more often by the Gerudo many years ago than suspected.  
Not so long ago, Link's first mirror shield was unfortunately stolen by bandits who were attacking a family of travelers. He was able to fend them off, but somehow one of them sneaked up from behind and pinched the valuable shield. Link would have gone after them, but he needed to make sure that no one else was badly injured first…

The door from behind was being pummeled even harder than before, until a small pause let another group arrive with a barging pole. The once sturdy door began to shake violently as it was rammed continuously harder. Link had a slightly worried look on his face, "Ehh, maybe they can get through…" Deciding not to waste anymore time, he grabbed the shield with his right hand and looked for another exit, but there was no way out other than the way he came in.

Preparing himself for a fight to get out now that he had a shield, Link waited for them to break in, but before the Gerudos could finish it themselves, the witch was heard among them and exploded the door straight out of its hinges. The large object of metal shot straight at Link before he could barely raise his shield in front of him to prevent his head from being knocked off. With a painful thud, Link was propelled straight into the wall behind him, along with the door that crushed him against it. The rear of his shield whacked into his face thanks to the force of the door on it, and he limply fell onto the ground after the door, that landed with a clang upon the stone floor.  
He was knocked out again…

End chapter

A/N: Ugh! I've been truly terrible this time! What, it was something like 2 months since I last updated? Probably the main reason was because I only got 1 review for last chapter. But it honestly wasn't on purpose. In 2 more weeks, I'll have finally finished my GCSE's, and then I'll be updating like there's no next Zelda game! Or no tomorrow…

While I'm on that, I should say that from the latest bunch of info on E3 that the new Zelda game's story line is certainly different from mine as expected, but not that different.

Since there may be people reading this that don't wanna know anything about it, I'll just say that it's called Twilight Princess, and that it's gonna be SOOOO AWSOME!  
I've already started the next chap, so it'll be up soon…

P.S. Thanks for reading and please review; they're my own lifeblood, plus they'll make me update faster. As well as that, I'm thinking of changing the story's title, tell me what you think and if you've got any ideas, feel free to say.


	10. Another Way?

Replies:

To Xanfel: Thanks! Glad you joined the party. I hope that you'll review more often from here on in. And that you won't give me the Evil Eye ™ for not commenting so heavily on you review… (quivers in fear)

To kitana5055: Glad you liked last chapter! I've just seen video footage of the game actually being played for half an hour! I won't give away anything but I must comment that the character animation is superbly detailed and smooth! (Combusts with excitement)

To Mecha Scorpion: There's a hell of a long way to go, believe me. But I hope that you might guess what's going to be the main quest by the end of this chapter. If not, then all will be clear in the next chap.

P.S. There'll be no more Gerudo for a long while after next chap. Their continuous presence so far is starting to bug me. This one's a bit longer for lateness.

Disclaimer: I like cheese… What? This is the disclaimer and not the "what type of dairy product do you prefer?" bio question?… Oh well, same thing…

Chapter 10: Another way?

Somewhere, less deep within the Spirit temple…

This feeling that was occupying him was beginning to happen too often. The dull, black pain of unconsciousness; although he could not think about it in this state, he was still able to half-mindedly feel annoyed that he was knocked out again.

When he was like this, he had no control. He had no idea where he was, when he was, or even who he was. All he could do was wait until he would awaken again, that is, if he would at all. Then he would do everything he could do to be under control again, and prevent this from happening again.

The faint feeling of being dragged along cold, hard stone faded in and out until he was still again. More time passed by and then he felt the sharp searing motion of ice cold water being splashed carelessly in his face. With a startled movement, he woke up, memory washed over him, and he remembered.

Link went to get up, but the startled elf was securely tied to a large pillar that seemed to have been placed there recently compared to the rest of the weathered stone room. Looking above him, he saw one of the Gerudos standing in front of him with a recently emptied bucket of water. A continuous screeching noise rang throughout the large room that they were in. Link's assumption of there being hundreds of enemies must have been slightly exaggerated, since there was more like twenty surrounding him at the moment. Link decided to ignore the large mass of enemies staring at him and strained his head as far as he could to the side so that he could look past the woman in front of him.

He saw the witch, conjuring up some sort of ritual. And in front of her, was a huge swirling black gateway of some sort, like a portal but it looked very unstable as its disturbing noise wailed like an ear-splitting scream and its violently swirling dark mist shot sparks of thunder at a rapid pace. Dust and stone was vaporized as the black hole drew in anything nearby, crumbling rock that was in front of the gateway began to rip itself of the platform structure from the daunting force.

Looking around a bit more, he noticed that they were all in the same room where he fought those two elemental witches nearly a year ago. So in that case they were all standing on the large platform in the middle. Link assumed that more recruits were standing below on the stone floor. This part of the Spirit Temple seemed to have been slightly rejuvenated; pillars were scattered in a respectable manner. The Gerudo probably did it in order to preserve the crumbling chamber.

The witch seemed to have finished what she was doing, and turned around to face Link. The Gerudo who was standing between them moved back along the rest of the mind slaves surrounding the two.

"Impressive, isn't it" the witch shouted over the horrible noise as she once again looked around at her servants, Malon now included. "And this control spreads further than you may think…" She glared at Link, expecting him to demand for more information from what she was talking about. He didn't bother though, instead he simply glared back, not really caring how much control the witch had; it would end once he was finished with her, and he was much more interested in how he was going to get out of here.

Showing slight signs of annoyance, the evil sorceress began pacing in front of him (or what seemed like pacing, since she was also levitating at the time) and continued anyway. "My influence may affect anyone I may choose nearby, but it also spreads through them to anyone short of will, anywhere, and they will also bend to eventually do whatever I please."

Link thought about that for a moment, and realized why he was attacked last night, "So you were controlling Ingo too!"

The witch sneered, "to a certain degree, yes, I was. However, it hardly took much to persuade him to murder you. He was already willingly selling us all of the supplies necessary for us to carry out this plan."

Link had mock egoism all over his face, "Then I must be pretty strong willed to resist your control!" he said with a smirk. "Seeing as how I'm right beside you and all…" His self flattering was cut off, "You idiot! It was merely due to your wretched fairy companion that your mind has been made impregnable for the moment!" barked the hag. Link wondered where Navi was, hoping she wasn't caught too, but replied with fake alarm, "Oh! Seems like I hit a nerve." Deciding to ignore him, the witch spun around to speculate at the portal, turning her back on the scheming Hylian.

Link decided that it was time for him to finish this, since the witch seemed to be nearly finished ranting about her own superiority. He realized that all of his weapons had been taken away from him, that was a bit obvious, but he doubted that they were able to find his Kokiri sword. Since the weapon was made for a small child, it was more the size of a dagger, and Link would always either store it under a pillow at night or have it tucked in his boot when he traveled anywhere.

Shifting his boot slightly, he confirmed that he indeed still had it. His arms were tied so that they were held down, but since he was also sitting down at the time, he could perhaps bring his loose leg over to his hand. Glancing up for a bit, he guessed that the witch was going to tell him what the screeching dark portal was about and then probably kill him or something, so he likely had a few minutes at most. Luckily she had turned her back on him, and the Gerudos surrounding him seemed to be too deep in their trance to notice him.

"Do you know what this is?" The witch was gazing into the huge black mist. Again, Link didn't answer; he was preoccupied with his escape, bending his leg far enough so he could just about reach into his boot at an awkward angle. The witch snorted in aggravation, but went on, "It is a half sealed gateway to the Sacred Realm. Link paused for a moment…

The Sacred Realm! Isn't that where Ganon and Zelda are!

His attention caught, Link responded just after taking out the dagger and hiding it behind himself. "What do you mean? The Sacred Realm was permanently closed by the Sages."

Pleased that Link was finally giving the reaction that she was looking for, the sorceress corrected him. "Not just the sages, foolish boy. The Master Sword played a role in all of this too. The Evil King's banishment may have been caused by the Sages, but the Sword was the tool that locked the seals to the Sacred Realm entirely, preventing not only anyone from getting out, but anyone from breaking in and possibly opening them again."

"In that case…" said Link, "what's this gateway doing here? The Master Sword isn't broken or anything." He barely noticed anymore that he was still cutting his bonds off.

"The sword doesn't just rely on its existence alone…" replied the witch, "In order for it to work, the one with the Triforce of Courage must continually channel his life force to it to keep the Sacred Realm fully closed off from this world."

"That explains nothing! What would stop that from happening if I'm still about?"

The witch's eerie laughter rang around the room along with the screeching noise the portal still emitted. "You don't even know, do you?' she said, "You don't even have the Triforce of Courage anymore! When your selflessness caused you to leave the land of Hyrule, your bond with the Triforce of Courage was shattered along with your promise to continually protect the land. I'd have thought you'd have at least known that. Didn't it seem a bit odd that you could no longer wield the sword destined to be touched only by the bearer of the Triforce of Courage!"

Link couldn't believe it! When he ventured out of Hyrule to find a way to save Zelda, it became a chore of pain and agony every time he unsheathed the Master Sword. Before he left Hyrule for certain, he decided to return it back to its pedestal in the Temple of Time. He also wondered why he wasn't pulled back in time as well, but he guessed that this explained it.

"Then why do you have such a grudge with me if I don't have the Triforce of Courage?" He'd almost finished with those ropes.

"Of course, despite the seals have weakened, the Hero of Time's effect on them have not completely diminished. So that is why we have brought you here to your grave; where the portal shall stabilize and I will reverse its effects, thus allowing our rightful leader to emerge once more." The witch cackled loudly once more and charged her hand full of dark energy. She then turned around to face Link in order to carry out her plan, but there was one slight problem, Link was no longer there.

"What!"

Link was standing on top of a broken pillar that ended up only half the height of the others due to shoddy architecture, "For someone with _all-seeing powers_, you don't seem notice stuff so easily."

"Get him!" All of the minions in the room rose to attention and leaped off the platform towards Link's location, but due to the fact that they had no ground to support themselves there, Link found it easy enough to keep them at bay. As they were fended off and were forced to fall further down to the floor though, they continued to persist and some even began to climb up the pillar itself to attack their target.

Link's Kokiri Sword was his only weapon, and it wouldn't be long before its short range would fail to keep him alive anymore. As more and more Gerudo warriors began to gang up on him, he found it harder to keep balance and was starting to slip. It seemed that the witches mind control came equipped along with bestowing the victims with stronger abilities and quicker reflexes as Malon herself had sneaked up behind him and grabbed his leg, causing Link to fall off and smack flat on his face into the ground, hard.

Barely able to move from the painful landing, Link's attackers were called off as the witch decided to deliver the final blow herself. Link couldn't get out of the way in time as a huge burst of dark energy was shot at him. A few moments passed and he realized that he was still alive. Straining himself to look behind him he saw a large scorch mark very close by, meaning that the attack had missed. Link turned around again to see that the witch was screaming while grabbing her hand in agony. A small dart-like knife had been thrown into her wrist just before she fired the shot.

Before Link could figure out what happened, more Gerudo burst through the entrance behind him, but instead of attacking the injured Hero, they filed in and surrounded him while taking defensive stances towards the rest of their own tribe. They seemed to have followed all of the commotion from the portal in the room. He noticed that one of them was Queen Naburoo, who also had her weapons raised, preparing for a fight.

Link wasn't sure what to do, but two of the new arrivals helped him up and quickly lead him out the way they came in. He had little choice since he felt as though he had broken half of his entire rib cage thanks to that terribly landed fall, plus he could have swore his nose was busted into his skull. Thankfully that didn't seem to be the case since he doubted that he'd be still conscious after something like that.

Before he was dragged too far away, he heard a voice shouting out to kill him. One of the Gerudo helping him said to him with a small grin, "Don't worry, we'll have you out of here in no time…" both of them took out a Deku Nut to presumably transport them to the Gerudo Grounds, but Link finally found his voice and stopped them.

"Wait! Those Gerudo in there, they're under mind control and…"

"Do not worry about that." She replied, "We heard everything before stepping in. They will not be harmed, but the rest of our troops will try to focus on Sheba to stop her control…"

So that's that old lunatic's name. Link thought.

"…We're sorry that we couldn't act sooner, we needed to know as much information as possible before we could act."

"Ah, well don't worry about that." Said Link. He began to pick up his own weight a little more as they traveled through the more familiar tunnel routes of the Temple. "I guess that it was one of you that threw that shuriken at her before I was zapped, huh?"

The two women looked at each other, confused looks on their faces. "Erm, no I don't think so…"

"What? Then who did?" asked Link.

"I don't know," said one of them. "The Gerudo tribe do not even use such weapons." Stated the other.

The two dismissed the thought, keen on sticking to their objective, "Anyway, it doesn't matter. If what that Sorceress said was true, then we must urgently get you out of here."

"No!" Link refused to leave, "I came here to save a friend of mine; I'm not going until I get her out too!"

One of the Gerudo hung her head in slight frustration, but the other one seemed a little more concerned about Link's dilemma, "Were is she?"

Link pointed back to were the sounds of the inevitable fight were coming from, "back there, she's also under, erm, _Sheba's _control."

Neither of them seemed willing to let him go back, "We were given strict orders by our Queen herself! We can't just let you go back in there!"

"I'm sure Naburoo will understand my situation. And yours too since I don't intend on leaving without a fight."

They looked at each other again, and one of them took out a small vial containing a red potion. "You look weary, take this before you go."

Link took it and gulped the revitalizing liquid down whole. Its effects were almost immediate; although his pain merely ebbed away partially, he felt his strength return full force. He still wondered how in the world it worked!

"Thanks." He turned around and was about to head towards the large sacrificial room, but stopped after taking a few steps.

"Hold on! All my weapons have been taken, were would you store them in this place if you needed to disarmed me?"

One of them grabbed his wrist and pulled him across a side route, "My knowledge of this Temple is limited, but I believe that there's a small armory around this corner. The trio entered a small room were Link saw spears, scimitars and even old and misused torture devices stacked along the floor and walls. In one of the corners, he saw his weaponry had been rather carelessly thrown into a bundle on the floor.

With a disapproving grunt, he began to collect his sprawled out inventory. The two women stood behind him looking a bit apprehensive as Link put away his Kokiri Sword, and somehow managed to equip his sword, Mirror Shield, Hookshot, Fairy Bow, a few arrows that were on the wall since he had none left along with a pair of bombs that were nearby, his Ocarina and the rest of his items such as bottles all on himself, yet he didn't seem that heavily armed from his outer appearance.

One of them gathered the nerve to ask him something.

"How do you carry all of those weapons at the same time?"

"Huh? Oh, I suppose that is a bit strange…" replied Link, who was feeling more secure now he had his weapons back. He pointed to the (still slightly damaged) belt that hung on his shoulder. "This was made out of elements from the Kokiri Forest," he said. "Their materials possess magical powers. In this case, when I put an item in one of these pockets on the belt, the item shrinks small enough to fit inside, and vice versa when I take it back out again. I don't quite know how it works though, a friend made it for me a long time ago."

Link remembered his fond memories of playing with Saria as a kid. He loved to collect things like nuts, seeds, sticks that he'd pretend to use as swords and rupees. Saria, who had much more experience than Link of the mysteries of the forest, decided to make the inventory belt for him so that carrying all of that stuff wasn't a problem. Little did either of them know how invaluable it would become in his quest later on.

Looking up at them, the two Gerudos still seemed a bit perplexed, but he interrupted their behavior.

"Hey! Never mind about that, we've got to get back to that fight!"

Once again, Link set off in a hurry back to the battle with the other two following close behind.

When they entered the room it for a second time, Link saw near even numbers of Gerudo fighting each other. It seemed that despite their slightly smaller numbers, the spellbound ones seemed to be faster and more offensive. Link had to stop this before any of these innocent people got killed… well, as innocent as a bunch of thieves could be anyway. Besides, they were his friends.

The two Gerudo that were following him joined into the fight. "Good luck!" called out one as she passed by. Searching for his target, Link found Sheba floating high above the action, too far for any of the warriors on his side to reach.

Except for me. Thought Link as he took out his hookshot and aimed it at a pillar nearby the witch. He pulled the trigger and dragged himself close enough to upset the old hag's balance and make her spin and nearly fall to the ground. Link didn't think it was a good idea to unhook his item off the pillar yet, since he was already at a dangerous height, so he held onto his hookshot and ended up still clinging on to the side of it.

His plan so far seemed to be working, as Sheba had drawn her mainstream attention off the fight and towards him instead. Her enraged fury cause her to fire another burst of dark energy, which gave Link no choice but to let go of the pillar and fall halfway down his distance from the floor before he managed to grab on to the edge of the large platform in the center. He pulled himself up, ran past the crowds of confused Gerudo due to the disturbance in Sheba's mind control, and readied himself for another go.

Reaching the other side of the platform, Link glanced up to confirm that the witch was close enough for him to attempt another attack. She could be seen nearby overhead, trying to regain control of her minions.

Link only had to take a running jump this time to get high enough, but Sheba was more aware this time and moved out of the way as he swiped a sword strike in midair. Very much fed up with Link at this point, the witch flicked a wrist at him, sending the same invisible force directly shooting him back onto the platform amongst the women who had by now stopped fighting.

"ACK!" Link hit the stone stage with his back before tumbling further back towards the edge. Finding his footing in mid-roll, Link ended up just short of the edge, scattering dust as he slid to a stop. This was good, cause the menacingly evil looking dark portal was situated behind him by just a few meters. Falling over the edge at this point would surely mean him being sucked into it as he could already feel its effect pulling him back, and he didn't fancy his chances of surviving if that happened.

"I've had enough of your interfering!" shouted the destructive elder, as she flung both arms forward, causing a huge might of power to crash upon them all. The Gerudo that were unfortunately standing on the landing were all cast aside like rag-dolls as they fell onto the floor below, some smacking into the walls before doing so. Link though was rooted to the spot thanks to a well timed protective spell, which was helpful, since he was practically teetering over the edge at this point.

It seemed that this was what Sheba was looking for, as she already fired another attack at him now that she had a clear shot. This one was simply a potent burst of dark purple energy that looked remarkably similar to the dark portal's matter itself. Link ducked forward and was able to get off the edge in time as the energy hit right at the spot Link was standing in.

The witch looked as though she was turning mad; her eyes were a bright yellow and seemed to be on fire, her robes at this point were dark rags that had turned from an elegant red to a raging black, even her hair was standing on end. Overall, it gave Link the picture that he was in trouble.

She fired another shot at him. Link took a risk and decided to try out his new shield. As the powerful beam hit the reflective surface of his Mirror Shield, Link tried to cast it directly back to his target, but the energy was far too violent to be reflected directly against itself. Link was sent flying back with the force of it all, over the platform's edge, and was inches away from shooting straight into the unstable gateway as the anchor of his hookshot saved him again.

He didn't fall into the side of the platform as the portal's effect was dragging him in so hard. The opening in dimensions and perhaps time itself had surely grown in strength as it sensed a nearby life force that could feed its never ending hunger for matter. Even when he released the trigger to pull himself back in, the hookshot strained with the force and barely moved, before the sound of a metal component inside it gave way to tell Link that it was now broken! His own grip was straining too. The wailing scream from behind was wrecking his ears. The air molecules were being sucked past so quick that his light and vision was almost completely impaired. Link dragged his other arm far enough to grab the hookshot's handle with both hands.

If the hookshot wasn't gonna pull him back out, then he'd have to do it himself. Letting the handle go with one hand, the determined Hero grabbed the chain of the item and started to ever so slowly heave himself along the extended component. The arrow tip of the weapon was beginning to crumble itself loose of the platform edge.

Seeing this opportunity, Sheba charged up another attack to finish Link off, but Some of the Gerudo who were fast on their feet had climbed back up and got in the way. One of them threw their scimitar at the witch, causing her shot to fire way off target and hit a nearby pillar instead. Another support in the room was damaged as the pillar collapsed apart with the attack. More of the bandits began to join in to give Link more time, but he wasn't getting very far. His distance from the black hole was making its effect on him weaker, but it wasn't enough and his grip was loosening all the more anyway.

Malon was standing directly below, hardly having any clue to what was going on, but looking above her, she knew Link's situation wasn't good. All of the people around her seemed to be too busy recuperating or fighting some weird magician high above to help the doomed Hero, so she began climbing up the wall of the platform herself.

Link had almost reached the edge again, but the dragging energy from behind still threatened to swallow him whole if he let go.

Just a little more!

Sheba unleashed the last of her power just to get one more crack at Link, a huge barrier dispelled of any Gerudo that were daring enough to be close by and then she blasted at him once more in blind fury. Again the attack was a bit off but it was close enough in that it blown up the point were Link's Hookshot was fired.

Link, who was mere inches from reaching solid rock again was devoid of any support at all as he seen the tip of the Hookshot fly past his head. Having no ideas left Link was now mercilessly sucked into the portal. He closed his eyes, accepting that he had failed and felt everything stop…

He opened his eyes again, expecting to either see himself in some sort of afterlife, dead or perhaps nothing because he had seized to exist. But looking at his still outstretched arm, he noticed that something had grabbed it. His vision had come back into focus, and he saw that Malon had reached out and stopped him from almost certain death.

Link could see that she was now struggling to hold on too, so now that he had the chance again, the persistent elf quickly put away the damaged Hookshot that was in his right hand, and then pulled himself close enough to grab the ledge with it. He used his lingering strength to haul both Malon and himself closer to the center of the stone stage as the shrieking portal's dragging effect had finally began to ebb away.

Link clambered to his feet in time to spot Sheba fling one last surge of dark power at Malon for saving him. Link jumped in front and deflected it with his Mirror Shield again. This time though, he tried using a different strategy with the counter attack, and instead of foolishly sending it directly back, he aimed his shield at a pillar directly beside the deranged villain. It predictably shattered to pieces along with the section of ceiling that it was supporting, and Sheba disappeared in the falling rubble that toppled on top of her.

There was definitely no time to celebrate as the whole room was starting to collapse along with most of the Spirit Temple as a result. Thankfully, everyone seemed to get the hint from 'huge trembling cave-in' that it was their cue to get the hell outta there. The whole pack of Gerudo began to swiftly file through the exit, while Link picked up Malon and jumped of the stone block just before a large piece of debris crashed onto the spot they were both standing in.

Link and Malon made to the exit along with the last bunch of stragglers. Before leaving, Link took one last glance behind him, seeing that no one seemed to have been left behind, and hoped that that was the last anyone would see of that crazed witch. He made his way after the others as a huge chunk of ruins crashed right at the doorway.

Due to all of the commotion, the Gerudos couldn't possibly concentrate well enough to teleport themselves out of here, so they had to make it out on foot too.

They weren't out of trouble just yet, as the entire Desert Coliseum continued to tremble apart. Link caught up with Malon at the back of the group and barely heard Naburoo's voice up ahead of the crowd, "Follow me!"

They all ran as fast as they could along the narrow passageways that vigorously shook more and more as they got closer to the Temple's exit. Link looked to his side and noticed Malon was having difficulty keeping up with all of these well-trained fighters, so he grabbed her hand to help her move faster. As they ventured hastily along certain parts of the structure, Link was grateful that there were no creatures along the way this time to slow them all down.

Eventually, they began to see light dead ahead! Regaining hope, they all sped up to reach the exit. But Link was beginning to realize that they were not heading out of the main exit. His suspicions were confirmed when Malon and himself skidded to a halt on top a huge statue's hand on the outside of the Temple.

Malon gazed wide-eyed in horror when she saw a huge drop right in front of them, leading at least three stories all the way down to a hard stony ground. The Spirit Temple's main entrance was all the way down there, but Naburoo must have thought that it was a better idea to use a quicker route to get out. Link saw that they could use their agile skills to teleport directly to the ground in open space, but what about Malon and himself!

His Hookshot was busted, so that couldn't help them. Just then the hand they were standing on began to crumble apart with the shock waves, giving them no more time. Unable to think of any more solutions, Link picked up Malon and readied himself.

Malon failed to believe what Link was planning to do… surely not…

All she could manage to do was give him a look of disbelief and some encouragement…

"No…" Link returned the gesture with a nervous grin, and jumped.

"…WAAYYYYYY!" Malon was heard screaming all the way down as Link landed heavily on the arm of the statue, slid down to it's elbow and free fell the rest of the way down. He ended up yelling out himself at this point.

"WHAAAAA!"

****

SMACK!

Link may have had similar falls like that before, but never while supporting the weight of two people before.

"…owww." Link had landed on both feet, his legs felt as though they had been shattered in twenty-one places. But Malon gained enough courage to open her eyes after the incident and noticed the remains of the boulder like statue tumble down above them.

"LOOK OUT!"

Link had to painfully respond by heaving the two of them out of the way. Both Link and Malon ended up sprawled on the desert sand as rock and earth crushed the area behind them.

A few moments later, after things calmed down a bit…

Malon ended up completely unharmed after the ordeal, but Link's condition was a slightly different matter. Naburoo's most skilled healer done all she could do for the moment with her revitalizing magic and potions, but they all insisted that Link where to stay at their headquarters for the night. They were going to have a celebration thanks to the return of the rest of their missing group.

Since both of his legs and other several parts of himself where bandaged and bruised (notably his head, which Malon had confessed about) Link found it a bit too hard to refuse.

Then Link remembered something that struck him with panic.

"WHERE'S NAVI!"

Just as he shouted that out, a muffled noise was heard inside his belt. Inside one of the pockets Link took out a bottle that contained a very annoyed looking fairy. Relieved, but still dreading the lashing that he'd get, Link hurriedly uncorked the bottle, letting Navi furiously shoot out, burning a bright red.

"ARGH! How in the world did you not notice me! One of those damned Gerudo shoved me in here! And you didn't even see me when you picked me up! How could you!"

Had a dull expression, ignoring the fairy…

"So… on to Gerudo Grounds?"

End Chapter

A/N: Right… I'm off now for summer, and now that I've recovered from horrible school repercussions, I'll be updating much faster…

In fact, I'll even swear on the Triforce itself that I'll have the next chapfinished within a week. Now you can be sure that I'll keep to my word… I'm sure Mr. Ravenstar will make sure of that.

That's all I can say! It's way past my bedtime so I'll be off. Sorry for any spelling mistakes. The Title will be changed to The Dark Revenge for now, so expect that in a little while to change.

Read and review! They let me sleep at night with happy thoughts of acknowledgement (big word… heheh…)

Bye! -

**(CUT) **As some may have noticed, this chap has been modified. When I went to upload the next chap, I noticed that this one's paragraphs were all glued together. And I noticed that I didn't get even one review! I've stuck to my word by finishing the 11th chap, but it won't be uploaded until I get at least one review please, good or bad (I don't mind negative opinions as long as they're somewhat constructive).

Bye again! (till that review anyway)


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